


From The Beginning– Will

by i_am_triple_a



Series: From The Beginning [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence, Fluff in the Later Chapters, Foul Language, M/M, Trans Male Character, Trans!Nico di Angelo, cursing, trans!will solace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:22:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25528873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_am_triple_a/pseuds/i_am_triple_a
Summary: “Well, whatever happened, you are officially an honorary Hermes Kid,” Connor told him before turning to Will and Michael. “We figured we should get Nico a check up and that because Chiron yelled at me and Travis about how we still hadn’t brought him here or anything, so yeah.”The kid—Nico— gave a shy wave and smiled.Michael had on his plotting-a-romance face as he looked at Nico. Will felt his stomach sink while he tried to figure out what his brother was up to.“Great! Will, why don’t you take Nico into Exam Room B and give him a check up and record his medical history and information?”Will gave his older brother a horrified look. When it came to relationships, you would think that Michael was a son of Aphrodite.“Cool,” Connor said before clapping Nico on his shoulder. “I’ll see you at lunch, I guess. If you finish earlier, come find me and Travis.”“See ya, Connor,” Nico said as Connor walked out of the infirmary, smirking his ass off. He probably had a prank planned with his brother. Will didn’t really want to know.“So. Will, take your patient to the exam room,” Michael said, pushing Will towards Nico.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Solangelo - Relationship
Series: From The Beginning [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849675
Comments: 19
Kudos: 97





	1. Meetings, Medicine, and Mythomagic

“... hit your principal with a Mythomagic figure?” someone laughed from behind Will. He turned to see Connor Stoll with the dark haired kid who showed up at camp a few days before.  
  
Will thought that the kid was pretty cute. He was obviously really dorky, but Will liked that the guy owned it. He wanted to get to know the dorky guy with the really big eyes.  
  
Michael Yew, Will’s older brother, elbowed him with a toothy grin. Will had told him and Lee Fletcher, his other older brother, about his minor crush on the new kid, and now they kept bugging him about it. Will glared are his brother. Honestly, he didn’t think it could even be defined as a crush. He didn’t even know the kids name.  
  
“I didn’t mean to!” The kid laughed, looking a little sheepish. He had an accent, but Will couldn’t think of what it was. It sounded like a combination of different accents, like the guy had lived in a bunch of different countries. “I was talking and it kinda slipped out of my hand!”  
  
Will could see how it would have happened. Every time he saw the guy talk, he was waving his hands around wildly. Will smiled from behind the desk in the infirmary.  
“Well, whatever happened, you are officially an honorary Hermes Kid,” Connor told him before turning to Will and Michael. “We figured we should get Nico a check up and that because Chiron yelled at me and Travis about how we still hadn’t brought him here or anything, so yeah.”  
  
The kid—Nico— gave a shy wave and smiled.  
  
Michael had on his plotting-a-romance face as he looked at Nico. Will felt his stomach sink while he tried to figure out what his brother was up to.  
  
“Great! Will, why don’t you take Nico into Exam Room B and give him a check up and record his medical history and information?”  
  
Will gave his older brother a horrified look. When it came to relationships, you would think that Michael was a son of Aphrodite.  
  
“Cool,” Connor said before clapping Nico on his shoulder. “I’ll see you at lunch, I guess. If you finish earlier, come find me and Travis.”  
  
“See ya, Connor,” Nico said as Connor walked out of the infirmary, smirking his ass off. He probably had a prank planned with his brother. Will didn’t really want to know.  
  
“So. Will, take your patient to the exam room,” Michael said, pushing Will towards Nico. Will tried to convey the silent message of ‘screw you, don’t do this to me!’ If it did work, Michael didn’t react. “Have fun!”  
  
Will sighed and showed Nico to the room. “Um, I’m going to grab some paperwork and stuff to fill out. You can take a seat on the cot.”  
  
Nico nodded, shooting Will a small smile as he looked through a deck of cards. Will walked back over to the front desk.  
  
“I hate you,” he informed Michael as he picked up all the standard forms. “I told you I kinda like him in confidence, you weren’t supposed to do anything about it!”  
  
Michael laughed and ruffled Will’s hair. “Yeah, but you’ll get over it when you actually get to talk to him. Let me know how it goes.”  
  
Will grumbled a few choice words under his breath as he walked back into Exam Room B to give a check up to Nico.  
  
“Hey, sorry about that,” Will mumbled, almost tripping over the chair next to the medical cot Nico was sitting on. Will fought off a blush as he walked over to the table in the other corner of the room to set down the papers and take a deep breath.  
  
“I’m going to check your pulse, if that’s okay.” Will didn’t wait for a response and grabbed Nico’s wrist to check his heart rate.  
  
“Your hands are kinda sweaty.”  
  
Will blushed. “Sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be, it's not a big deal. I’m just pointing it out.”  
  
Will continued with routine medical procedures (ie. looking in his ears, checking his breathing, checking his blood pressure, etc). Nico talked as Will worked, about Mythomagic, his sister, his school, the home he stayed in before going to the military school, and this hotel in Vegas that he stayed in before that. He tried to get Will to join in the conversation, but it didn’t work out too well as Will was trying not to think about how cute Nico was, and trying to fight down any blush that rushed to his cheeks.  
  
When he finished and was sure that Nico was healthy, he sat down in the chair at his desk, the one he tripped over on the way in.  
  
“I just have to record your medical history for future reference, and then you’re free to go,” Will explained as he picked up the medical forms. “First of all, I need your full name and your birthday.”  
  
“Um...” Nico’s brow furrowed for a second as he thought. “My full name is Niccolo Arturo di Angelo. My birthday is January 18.”  
  
Will wrote that down, not giving Nico’s hesitation much thought. Most kids forgot their names and birthdays due to ADHD or plain forgetfulness.  
  
“Sorry, my birthday’s the 28,” Nico said, his cheeks stained a light pink, his eyes downcast. “I’m sorry, I can’t really remember a lot from before a year ago. The nurse at my school said it was probably due to some kind of trauma or something, but I don’t know.”  
  
“That’s fine, really. It’s not that big of a deal. Most kids here forget things like that a lot. ADHD mixed with a plethora of traumatic experiences causes a lot of memory issues.”  
  
Nico smiled. “Thanks.”  
  
“What year were you born, again?” Will asked.  
  
“1997, I think.”  
  
Okay then, let’s move on,” Will said, realizing Nico was extremely uncomfortable with the current topic. He wasn’t sure how Nico was unsure of what year he was born, but he dropped it. “Have you ever had any serious injuries or illnesses?”  
  
“Define serious?”  
  
“A broken bone or worse, or you’ve been sick enough you’ve had to go to the hospital.”  
  
“Ok then. I’ve never had any serious illnesses. I’ve broken my nose a few times, I think I broke my arm because it clicks weirdly, and I think I busted up my knee a few years ago, cause it hurts to move it most mornings. Does that help?”  
  
“Yeah, that’s great. Do you know how you broke your arm or how you hurt your knee? And how’d you break your nose?”  
  
“I’m not sure,” Nico admitted, his eyes still cast down. “I don’t really remember. But I broke my nose a few months ago cause I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and I ran into a door.”  
  
“That’s great.” Will didn’t know how Nico couldn’t remember how he’d gotten injured, but he was sure it would come to light sooner or later. He moved on. “There are just a few more questions.”  
  
“Ok.”  
  
Will finished filling out the forms and learning about Nico’s medical history, Nico occasionally trying to start a conversation with him. Will started to like him more.  
“Alright, that was the last one,” Will said, looking up at Nico. “You’re free to go.”  
  
“Awesome,” Nico said, hopping off the cot he had been sitting on. He glanced up at the clock and whistled. “Wow, we went through lunch and I’m starving. D’you think there’ll still be food in the dining pavilion?”  
  
“Probably, Chiron usually keeps food out all day during the year,” Will told Nico as he filed the paperwork.  
  
“Great! D’you wanna come?”  
  
Will froze. Did Nico really just ask him to lunch? He really wanted to say yes, but he was an eternal rule follower and goody-goody. His friends and cousins in Texas hated him for that, but he hadn’t seen them in months. His mom thought it best he stayed at camp for a little while after he was caught healing someone.  
  
“I’d really love to, but we’re not supposed to eat meals away from our tables.”  
  
“Well, technically it’s not a meal since lunch ended about ten minutes ago. It’s just two people grabbing some food together.”  
  
“Fair point. Let’s do that, then.”  
  
Nico smiled as they walked out of the infirmary together. Michael shot him a thumbs up as they passed the desk, and Will stuck his tongue out at his brother.  
  
‘Yup. I’m gonna keep this boy around forever,’ Will thought as Nico babbled about his ideas of who his parents might be. His ideas for his godly parent were Hermes, Hypnos, and Athena. He thought his mortal parent was probably a teacher or a chef, but that was pure speculation. Nico had no memories of either of his parents, and so he spent a lot of time trying to guess who they were. It was really entertaining to hear all of Nico’s theories of his family.  
  
‘Never letting him go,’ Will confirmed when Nico told him that he wished his mortal parent did something cool, like being in the circus.  
  
“So what does your mom do?” Nico asked.  
  
“She’s a high school English teacher,” Will told Nico. “But I haven’t seen her since June.”  
  
“Oh.” Nico’s voice was different— softer. “I’m sorry about that. But it gets easier.”  
  
Will realized what Nico thought, that he and his mom weren’t going to talk anymore. That he was kicked out or that she died or that he ran away from a bad situation. “No! No, it’s nothing like that. I just used some magic and got accused of being a demon or the new Jesus or something.”  
  
Nico nodded with understanding. He laughed slightly. “Oh, okay. That makes sense. You’re from the Bible Belt?”  
  
“Rural Texas.”  
  
“Makes sense,” Nico laughed, and Will grinned as they arrived at the dining pavilion. “I mean, if I heard a kid used healing magic on someone, I’d think they were a demon too.”  
  
‘Never letting him go,’ Will thought as Nico continued talking about everything and nothing.


	2. Sometimes People Leave, and That’s Okay

“Will,” Lee said as he walked into the infirmary. Will beamed from behind the desk.  
  
“Hey, Lee! How’s it going?” Will asked with a grin. He was happier than he’d been since he’d last been in Texas, six months before. A lot in part due to Nico.  
  
Since they’d met during Nico’s check up three weeks ago, he and Will had become really good friends, and Nico helped out in the infirmary almost every day. He mostly cut bandages and stocked the shelves, but Will appreciated it. On top of that, Nico convinced Will to come sit at the Hermes table during meals because ‘no one was at camp anyways, it’s not a big deal’. The two of them talked all the time, and Will was thrilled was thrilled to find out that Nico was also trans (Nico didn’t actually mean to tell Will about that particular detail, but when Will told him he was trans, Nico excitedly talked about how he was trans too. Of course, Nico then proceeded to turn bright red and swear Will to secrecy). The more he talked to Nico, the more convinced he was that he was going to date Nico. At least, if Nico would want to date him, too. Will hoped he would.  
  
“Not great,” Lee admitted as he sat down in the other chair behind the desk. “I have some really bad news for you.”  
  
Will’s smile wavered. “What’s going on, Lee?”  
  
“Nico’s sister died on that quest,” he told him.  
  
“Oh, gods! I’ve got to go find him, make sure he’s okay—“  
  
“Will!” Lee looked at him with sympathy, his hand on his brother's shoulder to stop him from running off. “Nico left camp. Chiron’s refusing to let anyone go look for him. We’re in the middle of a war, and monster attacks have skyrocketed since Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, Grover, and Clarisse went off to the Sea of Monsters. Nico was unarmed and untrained when he left. You have to be open to the possibility that Nico is... that he’s dead.”  
  
Will didn't react at first. He was frozen in shock. Nico couldn’t be dead. “He’s not dead.”  
  
“Will—“  
  
“No. He can’t be. He was— he was here earlier today. I had breakfast with him. He’s not dead. We just have to find him.”  
  
Lee sighed. “Will. Chiron and Mr D have forbidden it. Even if Nico is still alive, it’s impossible to tell where he is. Percy, Annabeth and Grover looked everywhere for him, but they couldn’t find him. He could be anywhere at this point. And that’s if Kronos and his army haven’t gotten to him already. He’s scared and sad and angry, it wouldn’t be hard for Luke to convince him to join them. And if he didn’t join them, they would kill him. And if that didn’t happen, he’s probably been attacked by monsters by now. Grover said he was a powerful demigod, right? Plus, if we look for him, we’ll be attacked. Chiron doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt— I don’t want you to get hurt.”  
  
“But—“  
  
“No buts, Will,” Lee said sternly as Will blinked tears from his eyes. “I’m not going to let my little brother get himself killed, alright? I love you. So I’ll help you through this, and help you move on, but I’m not going to let you go off —against our Camp Directors’ direct orders— and get yourself killed for a kid you just met.”  
  
“Okay,” Will grumbled. “But I know he’s still alive.”  
  
“Alright. Maybe he is,” Lee conceded, but Will could tell he didn’t believe it one bit. “But you have to relax a bit. Let it go. If Nico is alive, he’ll eventually find his way back to camp. Everyone who leaves does. Now, can I get you anything? Maybe a hug or some biscuits and gravy?”  
  
Will got up and pushed his head into his brother's chest, waiting for his brother to wrap his arms around him. He cried into his brother's chest, praying that the hollow feeling inside him would go away, praying that Nico would be okay. Lee murmured comforting words into Will’s hair as he rubbed circles on his back.  
  
“It’s okay, Will,” Lee told him. “It’ll all be okay.”  
  
‘It’ll all be okay.’  
  
Will didn’t believe it for one second. He wanted to point out that it wasn’t okay that Nico’s sister died, and that he left camp, and that he might have joined the Titans or died. It wasn’t okay that Nico didn’t say goodbye. It wasn’t okay that the Stoll’s weren’t allowed to go look for Nico— they had practically adopted Nico as their brother when he came to camp. It wasn’t okay that Nico was gone, especially since he was untrained and unarmed and unclaimed. It wasn’t okay that Chiron and Mr D banned searching for him.  
  
But he didn’t say any of that. He just let his older brother hug him, and whisper comforting words to him. He let Lee sit with him.  
  
When Michael came into the back room, he let him hug him as well. He didn’t argue when his brothers wiped the tears off of his cheeks. He didn’t protest his brothers treating him like he was made of glass.  
  
He let them practically drag him to the dining pavilion for dinner. He got distracted by a ten foot fissure cut into the side of the pavilion.  
  
“What happened here?” Will asked his brothers, hating how his voice shook.  
  
“Uh, we think it was Jackson,” Lee explained, looking slightly pleased that Will was talking again. “He won’t say exactly what happened, but he is the son of the ‘Earth Shaker’, so who else could it have been?”  
  
Will shrugged as he slumped onto the bench of Table Seven. He didn’t say anything for the rest of the meal. He didn’t say anything for the rest of the day, and he barely spoke for the day after.  
  
He didn’t yell at Chiron and Mr. D even though he wanted to. He didn’t call them out for letting an untrained and unclaimed demigod go on a quest where two people were prophesied to die, or for refusing to let people search for his friend. He didn’t yell at them for not telling Nico that his sister was dead, and instead waited for Percy and Annabeth to come back and tell him.  
  
He sat down quietly, and let his brothers push food onto his plate. He watched the Stoll’s sit sadly at the Hermes table as Cecil Markowitz babbled about a new prank he had in mind. But Will didn’t go over there to eat like he had been for the last few weeks. What was the point without Nico? Chiron and Mr. D would yell at him to move, and he wouldn’t ignore them like he had with Nico.  
  
“Will, seriously, everything will be okay,” Lee told him, squeezing his shoulders slightly.  
  
Will let Lee’s words wash over him, ignoring how hollow he felt inside. The head counsellor for Cabin Seven tried to get Will to eat something. Will tried to eat, but he couldn’t manage to force anything down. He just found out his friend was gone, possibly forever.  
  
“Everything is okay, Will,” Michael told him, echoing their older brother's words. At least he had his two older brothers, who had been there for him since he was four years old and first came about Camp Half-Blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We don’t talk about the fact that Nico created a ten foot crack in the dining pavilion enough  
> Also, Camp Half-Blood is bullshit in its safety rules. They let untrained children go on life-threatening quests all the time, and act like it’s no big deal, and make other kids feel bad for not risking their lives. We don’t talk about this enough  
> It probably seems a little extreme at how crushed Will is that Nico left considering he knew the guy for 3 weeks, but keep in mind, they’re both 10, and were practically inseparable for the 3 weeks. They are kids, and this is the first real loss Will’s ever experienced  
> I hope you enjoyed this! Any feedback is appreciated!


	3. Don’t You Dare Leave Me Again, di Angelo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will confronts Nico

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on tumblr @i-am-triple-a

He didn’t have his brothers anymore, thanks to the Titan Army. Lee was dead. Will thought of screaming at Mr. D and Chiron, but decided against it ultimately. Losing Lee wasn’t the same as it had been to lose Nico. Since January, when Nico has left, lots of campers had left, so by now, Will was used to missing people. But when Nico left, Will felt sad and depressed, like if he moved too quickly he would break. But with Lee, Will just felt angry. He lost his brother, his counsellor, his friend. He made a promise to himself that if he ever saw anyone who agreed with the Titans, he would destroy them. They took his brother from him, so he would take them out of the picture.   
  
Will tried to ignore the hollow feeling inside of him. He hadn’t felt that feeling since Nico disappeared, seven months before. Lee had helped him to get over Nico, reminded him he didn’t need to forget Nico, he just needed to deal with how he felt and admit he was gone. And now Lee was gone. He was no longer around, and wasn’t going to be able to help him through this.  
  
The only other person who would be as upset as Will was Michael. They had about twenty other siblings, but Michael, Lee and Will were closer to each other than their other siblings. But Michael wasn’t going to show he was upset. He would bottle up his feelings so he didn’t have to deal with them, and so he could remain strong for his little siblings.  
  
On top of that, Castor was dead. A good portion of the camp was totalled, which meant the campers would be busy with repairs for the rest of the summer.  
  
Quintus turned out to be Daedalus, who was somehow alive. But then Nico released his souls as per request, because apparently, Nico was a son of Hades.  
  
Nico had almost died, too. Thick smoke rolled off his body due to using his powers too much. Will didn’t know if he could take that— losing Nico, getting him back, and then having Nico he ripped away from him again. Especially with Lee being gone. Will didn’t think he would have been able to keep going after that.  
  
But Nico was alive. Nico was back.  
  
Nico was back. He hadn’t died. Will knew he hadn’t, but knowing something and seeing it for yourself were very different.  
  
He couldn’t help but feel his eyes drawn towards Nico, who looked different than he had last December. He was wearing all black, except for an oversized and scratched up aviator jacket. His hair was longer, he was skinnier, and he had a new scar running across his cheek. But he was still Nico. More angsty, and he had clearly been living on the streets, but he was still Nico. The same guy Will had been missing for months.  
  
Lee was dead, but he had Michael and Nico to help out.  
  
“Will? Will!” Michael was snapping his fingers in Will’s ear, causing him to jump.  
  
“What?!”  
  
“Stop ogling di Angelo and move it! We need to get to dinner,” Michael said, steering Will towards the dining pavilion.  
  
‘Michael has really taken up his job as head counsellor with pride, and he‘s pretty good at it,’ Will thought. He couldn’t imagine what that was like— having your brother die and not being able to grieve because you had his old job thrust upon you. But Will didn’t have time to tell Michael this, as his younger siblings snickering behind his back, and Will needed to protest about being called out on his ogling of Nico.  
  
“I’m not ogling anyone!”  
  
“Right,” Michael scoffed, “and I’m Clarisse La Rue, the Pope is Jewish, the Stoll’s are law-abiding citizens, the sky’s green, Austin and Kayla are both amazing mathematicians, and you’re not still crushing hard on the son of Hades.”  
  
Will rolled his eyes as they arrived at the Apollo table. “You say ‘son of Hades’ like it’s a bad thing. It isn’t like Nico can choose who his father is. Plus, Hades isn’t that bad as far as gods go. He’s pretty chill, and he doesn’t cause unnecessary problems for us.”  
  
“Yeah,” Austin said, “but it’s still scary. Hades is Lord of the Dead. That Nico guy just killed Quintus! In front of all of us!”  
  
“He didn’t kill anyone,” Michael said sternly. “He released Daedalus’ soul because Daedalus asked him to. He was alive for thousands of years. It wasn’t natural.”  
  
“It was a morally grey area,” Kayla said. “I still think Percy is scarier, though.”  
  
Will tuned out of his siblings' conversation as he glanced over at Percy, who was sitting with Tyson at the Poseidon table. He agreed with his sister. Percy was downright terrifying when he was using his powers or fighting. He kinda got this vibe that said ‘stay the fuck away from me’ and his eyes seemed to glow. It wasn’t Percy’s fault, so Will tried to ignore it, but it wasn’t easy some days.  
  
Then he glanced at Nico, who was sitting at the end of the Hermes table with Connor and Travis, who were trying to rope him into a game of Poker. Will watched as some of the other campers at the table glanced fearfully at Nico. If it weren’t for the Stoll’s acting like his big brothers, Nico probably would have moved to the edge of the pavilion to eat or just left again. Will hated that people were judging Nico for his dad. It’s not like Nico had a choice in who his father was.  
  
“... getting into scary demigods, then Thalia is the clear winner,” Alex said from way down the table. They looked very sure of their answer. “I mean, she electrocutes people, she’s the daughter of Zeus, and she’s now Artemis’s lieutenant and immortal. That adds together to be pretty scary.”  
  
“Fair point,” Theo said from beside Alex. “But you did meet Ethan Nakamura, right? He was that Nemesis kid from a few years ago. I heard he killed someone for taking his sword without asking, and that he ripped out his eye and force fed it to someone.”  
  
Will scoffed at that. “Come on, Theo. There’s no way that happened. This is why Underworld children don’t stay at camp. Everyone spreads rumours about them and no one trusts them based on their parents.”  
  
“Will’s right. Stop judging the Underworld kids,” Michael said. “And if we’re talking about the scariest demigod, it goes to Drew when you mess with her wardrobe. I mean, I borrowed a scarf from her and she nearly clawed my eyes out. It’s a good thing Silena keeps her in line most of the time.”  
  
“Guys,” Arthur laughed. “You’re all forgetting Clarisse.”  
  
“Clarisse,” they all chorused, nodding in agreement. No creepy or terrifying powers, no scary vibe, no glowing eyes, no immortality, but there was no doubt: Clarisse was terrifying. She was the subject of children’s nightmares.  
  
“But Nico is pretty scary,” Austin muttered.  
  
“Please,” Will said with an easy smile. “He’s a dork who needs therapy, a nap, and some apple juice, just like the rest of us. He’s a really, really good guy.”  
  
“I guess,” Austin muttered, still looking unconvinced. Will knew that as soon as he got to know Nico, he would be attached for eternity. He made a plan to make that happen.  
  
“Alright, campers!” Chiron called out from Mr D’s table. “Dinner is over! Please head to the amphitheater, where we will have a celebration for both Castor McNamara and Lee Fletcher!”  
  
The camp collectively stood and started walking towards the amphitheater for the sing along, but Will turned towards Nico, who was slipping off towards the forest. “I’ll meet you guys there,” he told his siblings, who shrugged and walked off. Only Michael seemed concerned, but as soon as he saw Nico, he nodded knowingly.  
  
  
  
Will ran to catch up with Nico. “Hey, di Angelo!”  
  
Nico stopped and turned, waiting for Will to meet him. “Hey, Solace. How’s it going?”  
  
“Horrible,” Will told him, plain and simple. “My brother died, my mom told me I can’t go back home until after next summer, and you were trying to slip off without even saying hello to me. Do you know how worried I was about you?”  
  
“I’m sorry, Will. I am really, really sorry. Lee was really great.”  
  
“Yeah. Yeah, he was. And I miss him and it doesn’t feel real, and I need a hug. But you need to not run off without saying goodbye again. And you need to stay in touch with me. Cause you’re my friend, and I can’t lose you again.”  
  
Nico looked down. “I’m sorry, Will. I was—“  
  
“Scared, and angry, and confused, and I get that. But promise me that you’ll Iris Message me. Once every week at the minimum.”  
  
“Yeah. I guess I could find drachmas to do that.”  
  
“I have a bunch back in my cabin. We have a whole station for Iris Messaging in there. I can go grab you some?”  
  
“That’d be good.”  
  
“Great. I’ll give them to you after the sing along. My second rule for you is that you have to come to camp.”  
  
“I can’t—“  
  
“I get it if you don’t want to stay,” Will interrupted, “cause people are annoying jerks and you have a whole new emo brooder thing going on, but you’d better be coming here at least one day a month. That's only twelve days a year. That’s only—“ Will paused, trying to do the math in his head, before giving up and mumbling under his breath. “What percent of the year?”  
  
“About 3.3 percent,” Nico supplied.  
  
“Thank you. Spend 3.3 percent of your year here. Got it?”  
  
“Got it.”  
  
“Good. Now move it. We’ve gotta get to the sing along.” Nico sighed dramatically as Will led him towards the amphitheater. “And please don’t leave tonight, either. Leave tomorrow after breakfast at the earliest.”  
  
“You’re the boss, doc,” Nico told him while rolling his eyes.  
  
“I know.”  
  
Nico was quiet for a moment as they walked before stopping, causing Will to turn and look at him. “Are you really okay? I mean, with your brother? Can I do anything for you?”  
  
Will pretended to think for a moment as he and Nico stood. “I could use a hug.”  
  
Nico grumbled indistinguishably under his breath, his cheeks light pink. He looked from side to side nervously, as if checking to see no one was looking. He looked back at Will briefly before looking around again. The son of Apollo was about to tell the brunet that he didn’t have to hug him when Nico wrapped his arms around Will’s waist, and leant his head on Will’s chest slightly. Nico was tense, but Will couldn’t have been more happy.  
  
‘Yup,’ Will thought happily as he wrapped his arms around Nico’s shoulders. ‘This boy is perfect.’ Nico relaxed slightly when he felt Will’s arms around him.  
  
“Thanks, Nico,” Will murmured into Nico’s hair. Nico shrugged and pulled off of Will.  
  
“No problem, Will.” Nico continued walking, and Will smiled as he walked after the Italian.  
  
“I’m really glad you’re back,” Will confessed. If Will didn’t know better, he would say that Nico was still blushing.  
  
“Yeah. I’m glad I’m back, too. I missed you.”  
  
“By the way, happy belated birthday. You’re twelve now.”  
  
Nico nodded slightly, and smiled at Will. “Yeah. Thanks Will.”  
  
“No problem.” Will grinned as they arrived at the outskirts of the amphitheater. He made a pact with himself at that moment. He was always going to be there for Nico, and be the reason Nico smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! The Stoll’s and Nico being siblings is my jam, and I love Nico confronting Nico in BoO, so I decided to incorporate some of that earlier on in the story to help Nico and Will get closer earlier on  
> Also, Will’s siblings arguing over the scariest demigod is amazing. Personally, I think Clarisse is terrifying  
> I feel so bad for Michael tho, I mean he’s also grieving a brother but he has to push that aside to take lead, and then he dies a year later. Get all the demigods some therapy, honestly  
> But I really, really think that Will would be prepared to kill to get justice for Lee when he was twelve. Lee kept Will calm after Nico left, so now he’s filled with anger, kind of like Nico was after Bianca. But instead of running, Will does have the rest of his siblings and his friends to support him, which is why he gets out of it alright, whereas Nico runs and gets super emo and angsty


	4. Zio Pietro e Zia Eleanora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will comes out to Nico

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I forgot to mention this earlier, but I got inspiration for this story from two main sources: the After the War series by Delta_Rose and Rewritten by Gamzee_Makaraoni, both on ao3.  
> I used a couple things mentioned in After the War (like Nico’s first words to Will being ‘your hands are kinda sweaty’, and Michael Yew being almost like an Aphrodite kid sometimes)  
> The idea for the story came from Rewritten, where Will and Nico are already dating by Heroes of Olympus, and that’s where I got the idea  
> I just wanted to put this here, cause credit where credit is due

Will was exhausted. Running the infirmary had become his job since the Battle of the Labyrinth, two months ago. After Lee died, he was the only one in his cabin with the gift of healing, so he was in charge. He constantly complained about having to take care of a bunch of injuries, illnesses, and curses obtained from various demigods with no sense of self-preservation to Nico, Cecil, Lou Ellen, Austin, Kayla, Michael, and pretty much anyone else that would listen. Michael had started to do all the paperwork and took the night shifts, as well as the Saturday shifts so Will could visit his mom. She did come up from Texas once a week to see her son, so he might as well be there to see her. Right?  
  
Michael pointed out that Chiron used to run the infirmary, and the two of them had spoken to the director about helping out. Will thought their point of Will being twelve and dealing with injuries most certified doctors have never seen on a daily basis was seriously damaging to his mental health and well-being. However, Chiron claimed that it was Will’s job, and that he had no responsibility to help out. Honestly, Will was starting to think Nico was right whenever he said Chiron shouldn’t be allowed to look after children. After some more prodding, Chiron agreed to take over the infirmary one day a month, so Will scheduled it for the days that Nico came to camp so he and his friends could hang out.  
  
Normally, he would drag Nico off to the beach or into the city for the day with Cecil, Lou Ellen, Austin, and Kayla. Nico usually snuck off part way through to buy things for the Stoll’s, or just to hang out with them, and occasionally brought Cecil along. The Hermes counsellors would be pissed at him if he didn’t, in all fairness. He was like their little brother, and their number one supplier of contraband. Will figured that was why Nico and Cecil were so close: they both hung around the Stoll’s and Will, so they spent a lot of time together. Will was happy that Nico was making more friends at camp, even if they were mostly Hermes and Apollo kids. Most of the other campers still treated Nico like he was a monster, solely based on who his father was, but it was good that he was learning to ignore the assholes thanks to his friends and sort-of family.  
  
Earlier, Nico had brought Will, Cecil, Lou Ellen, Austin and Kayla to a new hole-in-the-wall cafe that Percy had showed him the last time he’d visited the Jackson’s. Apparently, Percy’s mom had more or less adopted Nico, and Percy had taken a page from the Stoll’s book and adopted Nico as his little brother. Nico complained all the time about Percy Iris-Messaging him a few times every week to make sure he was eating alright, and that he was sleeping properly, and so on, so forth. The Jackson’s had even started forcing Nico to come to Friday Night Family Dinners. Privately, Will thought he loved it, and that Nico was thrilled that he had a family. He would never bring this up with Nico, though; it was more of a silent understanding between Nico and everyone he spoke with. He would complain whenever anyone treated him like family, but really appreciated it.  
  
Will really loved the cafe, though. It was cute and sweet, a really cosy shop on the corner of 17th and 6th. As usual, Nico was right in his assumption that Will would love the cute little restaurant.  
  
However, the best part of Nico’s visits were their private outings. When everyone else was gone at the campfire, Nico and Will would sneak off to the movie theatre (or as Nico called it, the cinema), to the beach, or to a coffee shop together, just the two of them. Nico would tell him stories from outside the border of camp (he always saved the best stories for his visits to Camp Half-Blood, like the guy with the tattoo of Lin-Manuel Miranda across his entire back). In return, Will would tell him the best stories from the infirmary (like when that Nike kid came in with three broken limbs, two broken ribs, and two black eyes because he got into a fight with the naiads in the canoe lake). When it was just the two of them, it seemed like Nico was the same geeky kid he’d been when they’d first met, and Will loved it.  
  
Even though he normally loved their outings, Will was nervous for that night, when he was planning on coming out to Nico. He doubted Nico would care, but he was still paranoid that Nico would stop talking to him. Michael told him to relax, and said that Nico would be super supportive, but that didn’t stop Will from worrying. He really liked Nico, and hated the idea that he might never speak to Nico again because he’s gay. It wasn’t even like Nico was homophobic (at least not outwardly), but he was from the 1930’s, a time that wasn’t exactly known for it’s understanding and acceptance. Will liked to think that Nico wouldn’t turn out to be an asshole, but he wasn’t positive that Nico would end up being supportive.  
  
“Solace, stop freaking out!” Cecil snapped, pulling Will out of his thoughts. “Nico won’t care that you’re gay!”  
  
“I know,” Will hissed back, glaring at Cecil. “But I’m allowed to be concerned!”  
  
“Well, you don’t have much more time to worry, Willoughby,” Lou Ellen told him with a smirk. Will groaned at the use of his full name. Why did he ever tell Lou and Cecil his mom he picked the name ‘Willoughby’ for himself? “Nico’s on his way, honey. And I’d suggest getting it over at the beginning of the night. It’ll make it easier on the off chance that Nico runs.”  
  
“You think he’ll run?” Will squeaked, horror filling him at the thought.  
  
“He won’t run,” Kayla assured her older brother with an exasperated sigh. Will understood that his friends and siblings were constantly talking about Nico: worrying about where he was, or how he would react to Will being gay; worrying about if Nico was dying or injured; ranting about how cute Nico is; ranting about how Nico could be queer, and attracted to guys, and might want to date Will too, no matter how crazy the idea was. He completely understood that as much as they loved Nico and Will, they didn’t want to talk about Nico anymore. But Will still wanted to talk about Nico.  
  
“But whatever case, you’ll find out soon enough, since he’s on his way over,” Cecil said with a grin.  
  
“What? !” Will demanded.  
  
“Hey, guys,” a voice behind Will called. Will turned, and sure enough, Nico was standing behind them in the same grey hoodie and black skinny jeans as earlier. It was a little weird to see Nico outside of his aviator jacket, and Will didn’t know that Nico owned any clothes that weren’t black, but he figured that Ms. Jackson bought it for him. “How’s it going?”  
  
“Pretty good,” Austin said with a smile. “Will’s looking forward to tonight. Aren’t you, Will?”   
  
“Yeah, I am,” Will mumbled, shooting a dirty look at his brother. “What about you, Nico?”  
  
Nico nodded. “Yeah. I love hanging out with you, Solace. You’re good company.”  
  
Will attempted to fight off a blush, but he knew it wouldn’t work out well, so he looked down. It wouldn’t look good if Will was blushing at something Nico said and told him a few minutes later that he was gay. Cecil decided to take pity on Will and took over the conversation. “So what do you have planned for tonight, di Angelo?”  
  
“The Shakespeare Garden in Central Park,” Nico explained.  
  
“How sweet,” Michael said with a grin from beside Austin. “Will’s always wanted to go to the gardens.”  
  
Nico shrugged, and chuckled awkwardly. “Well, it beats the sing-along with the cheesy songs about how grandma puts on her armour and how grandpa sharpens his sword.”  
  
“Fair point,” Austin laughed. “But, I run the sing-along, so shut your dirty mouth.”  
  
Nico laughed, and twisted his skull ring, something Will noticed him do a lot. “Sorry, man.”  
  
“Well, we should get going,” Will pointed out, hoping to get out of there as soon as possible. Michael was right in saying that Will had always wanted to go to the Shakespeare Garden. He was a huge fan of Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays, and really wanted to visit the garden named after one of his heroes. Also, since Michael started dating Marcus from the Demeter cabin, he’d gained a newfound appreciation for plants and flowers. Marcus had decided to hang up pictures of plants all over the Apollo cabin, and Will had started to really appreciate their beauty. On top of that, from the pictures he’d seen of the garden, it was super romantic, and Nico wanted to go with him.  
  
“Yeah,” Nico said, holding out his hand to Will. “Shadow-travel will be a lot quicker.”  
  
Will agreed and took Nico’s hand, and was plunged into darkness. The only thing Will could sense near him was Nico’s hand in his own.  
  
When he could see again, he was standing on a path, the right side lined with a beautiful fence, that looked over at a sea of black-eyed Susan’s. There was a cute little bench on the left, hidden in a beautiful alcove covered in vines and little white flowers. Will’s breath hitched in his throat, and he heard a dry chuckle from next to him.  
  
Nico smiled at him, as he leant on the fence to stop from swaying. Shadow travel took a toll on Nico’s health, but Will was always ministering to make sure he was okay. And Nico was getting better at the random teleportations— he hardly ever popped out in the wrong place anymore. “Sorry I took you here right now. The garden is best in the spring, but it’s still nice in the fall. Plus, it’s a lot more fun when the fireflies come out at night. It’s really fun to try and catch them, y’know?”  
  
“I’m gay,” Will blurted out, and immediately slapped a hand over his mouth in shock. Sure, Will had planned on coming out to Nico early on in the night, but he didn’t expect that he would blurt it out as soon as they were alone. Nico looked shocked, and looked around nervously. ‘Great,’ Will thought. ‘He’s so embarrassed and ashamed of me that he’s looking around, worried that someone might think we’re a couple or something.’  
  
“Will, I don’t care,” Nico started, as he turned back to Will, his voice low and tense “but you shouldn’t say that so loudly and in public. It’s not safe, if someone heard, they could get you arrested, or killed, or worse.”  
  
“What?” Will asked, and then remembered what time Nico grew up in. Of course he was worried, people were killed for being gay in the thirties. And in some parts of the world today, but that was a story for another day. Will grabbed Nicos arm and gently pulled him over to the bench, sitting down with him. “Nico, people don’t get arrested or killed for being gay in America anymore. I mean, there are still people who will be assholes to you unless you’re straight and cisgender, but it’s way better now than it was in the thirties. It’s okay. You do know that, right?”  
  
Nico’s eyes widened, and his jaw was literally dropped. “You’re shitting me, right?”  
  
“No,” Will laughed, slightly concerned at how uninformed Nico was about modern day politics. He was trans, shouldn’t he have known that things were okay for the LGBTQ community now? “It’s okay now.”  
  
“Oh,” Nico said, looking down slightly before turning back to the son of Apollo and giving him a small smile. “Well, good for you. I don’t care that you’re gay. You’re still Will.”  
  
Will grinned at Nico, relief flooding into his chest. “Good. I’m glad you’re here for me, Nico.”  
  
“I’ll always be here for you, Solace,” Nico said earnestly, and then realized what he said and blushed. “I mean, you’re my friend, and I— yeah.”  
  
“Thanks, Nico,” Will laughed. “If it’s any consolation, I’m always going to be there for you, too.”  
  
Nico nodded, and then changed the subject in a way that only Nico could do. “Did I ever tell you about my Zio Pietro and Zia Eleonora?”  
  
“I don’t think so,” Will said. Nico’s stories from 1930’s Italy were Will’s favourites, even if they weren’t told often. Will figured it was because Nico couldn’t remember much of the thirties, and he didn’t like being reminded of the fact that he didn’t belong in the modern day. However, Nico knew a lot of really interesting people in the 30’s, and it was really entertaining to hear about them, so Will always bugged Nico about telling more stories from back in the day. “What’s a ‘zio’ and ‘zia’?”  
  
“Zio is uncle, and Zia is aunt. Really, Pietro was my neighbor, but we called him our Zio Pietro. He worked in a bakery nearby la casa dei miei nonni. That’s my grandparents house, by the way. Anyways, Pietro used to bring back fresh loaves of bread for my mamma, and used to invite me and my sister over for coffee and smokes. You know, normal kid stuff, right?”  
  
“Totally,” Will laughed, thinking about what amazing parental instincts people had back in the thirties. He was really glad that Nico wasn’t smoking anymore— it was a nasty habit that was hard to kick. It took Nico a long time to quit, and he was crotchety for a few months (well more crotchety than usual), but in the end, Nico agreed it was worth it.   
  
“Yeah. well, in return, my mamma would invite him for food, and looked after his... What’s the word?” Nico looked down for a second, snapping his fingers as he glared at the ground. “Dog! We looked after his dog when he was out of town. My mamma also gave him bottles of high end wine from her mamma’s vineyard, which was really nice. Anyways, we all loved Zio Pietro, he was family in every way but by blood.  
  
“So this one day, Pietro decided to bring his new girlfriend by for dinner. We had all heard about her for months, and my mamma had been bugging him to bring her by so she could judge his girlfriend's character. So after months of asking, he agreed to bring her for dinner. But– and here’s the kicker– he didn’t tell us he was going to bring her by. It was one of the weekends that me and my sister were at my bisnonna’s farm. Remember that, it’s important for later on in the story.  
  
“And so he brought her by, but when he got to our house, no one was there. I guess he thought that we’d be home pretty soon after he got there, so he and his girlfriend decided to go into the kitchen and make dinner for us, to be nice or something, right? Maybe to pay back for all the times me, Bianca, and my mamma had made dinner for him. But neither of them were good cooks, which fucked up some things that night.  
  
“So all the food had started to burn, and there was a fire. There was marinara sauce on the ceiling, and pasta stuck to the wall. Pietro and his girlfriend were trying to clean up and salvage the meal, but weren’t doing a good job of it.  
  
“The other issue was that me and Bianca were covered in horse shit from mucking out the stalls at our bisnonna’s farm, and falling numerous times and getting into a fight with a couple cousins. On top of that, my mamma was yelling at us the whole way home and into the house.  
  
“So, when we walked inside the house, two of us were covered in horse shit, two of us were trying to put out a fire while covered in marinara sauce, and all five of us were screaming. Best part of that is that Zio Pietro married that girlfriend, and she became my Zia Eleanora.”  
  
Will started laughing part way through the story, and by the end was falling over himself laughing. Nico was laughing along too, he was holding his sides they were shaking so badly. It wasn’t even that the story was the best one either of them had ever heard; it was more of a hysterical laugh over the fact that they were in the middle of a war they may not make it out of, they had just had a sappy moment where they had promised to always be there for each other, and now they were telling ridiculous stories and laughing like ordinary kids.  
  
Will felt at peace, knowing that everything would be going right if he had Nico alongside him. Luckily, the two of them had said they would always be there for each other. Will would always have Nico, and he was positive that Nico would always have him.  
  
The son of Apollo was reminded of a thought he’d had when he first met Nico. ‘Never letting him go.’ If Will had a choice in it, he would keep true to that thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just an idea of how Will came out to Nico, and I really don’t think Nico would care. As a gay trans kid, I don’t think he’d care if his best friend was a gay trans kid. Also, I just wanted to write a story about a guy who was mentioned once in the series that we know nothing about (other than that he was drafted into Mussolini’s campaign)  
> I also headcanon that Nico’s family owned a vineyard for no reason other than why the hell not, right? And the horse crap thing is my explanation as to why Nico hates horses  
> Also— I’m a sucker for platonic Nico and Percy, so Nico will not have a crush on him for the majority of this series. Nico had a crush on him when they first met, but that’s long over by the time this story takes place.   
> Okay, update on the series! I’m planning on writing two companion stories to this, and a sequel. The companions are some extra scenes, that were either mentioned in this story or that I just wanted to add, and the other is from Nico’s PoV. The sequel is going to be the version of HoO for this timeline. I’m probably also going to add a timeline to show a rough idea of when every chapter takes place  
> I’ve almost finished writing this story (I’ve got it written, and just need to post it all). I’ve started to write Nico’s PoV and a few scenes for the HoO rewrite   
> Also, there will be a more on how Nico and Percy became friends and stuff in Nico’s PoV, and on Nico’s experiences with being ostracized at CHB and stuff. In my mind, Will doesn’t want to see the extent to which people are dicks to Nico, so he doesn’t see it outside of a few dirty looks and hearing a few whispers


	5. For the First Time, It’s an Actual Restaurant, Not A Cafe

Will didn’t expect Nico to show up at Camp Half-Blood on the day he was supposed to again. After their last Iris Message, Will wasn’t sure that Nico would ever come again.  
  
The call had been normal. It was a typical conversation between Nico and Will, and it had left both parties happy. And then Will fucked it up. At the end of the call, Will had told Nico he loved him when they were saying their goodbyes. ‘Love ya, Nic,’ Will had said. ‘See you on Sunday.’ That’s not always what you want to hear from your gay best friend when you grew up in a super conservative time and are dealing with internalized homophobia.  
  
So when Nico did show up, Will was completely prepared to pretend he had never said that to Nico, and deny meaning it if it came up, in the name of preserving their relationship. As a child of the god of truth, it wouldn’t super convincing, but he wasn’t too worried. He would bet his last drachma that Nico would pretend it never happened.  
“Hey, Solace,” Nico mumbled as he entered the infirmary with Cecil, Lou Ellen, Kayla and Austin. “You ready to go?”  
  
Will nodded, finishing washing his hands. “Absolutely, di Angelo. What’s on the agenda for today?”  
  
“He’s taking us to another brand new cafe,” Cecil said. “Seriously, how many hole-in-the-wall coffee shops are there in New York?”  
  
“More than you’d guess,” Nico laughed. “And I’m actually taking you all to a restaurant, but you might have to stay behind, Markowitz. I mean, I was gonna pay and everything, but if—“  
  
“No!” Cecil cried, looking panicked. “I really want to go!”  
  
“Relax,” Lou laughed. “Nico’s just messing with you.”  
  
“No!” Austin said, sarcasm dripping from his words. “You don’t say! I thought Nico was gonna ground Cecil!”  
  
Will rolled his eyes as they walked out of the infirmary, only half-listening to Cecil’s weak attempts at defending himself and Lou’s insults. He turned to Nico, who was smiling fondly at the bickering couple and Will’s siblings who chose to make the occasional smart ass comment.  
  
The son of Hades’ hair was pulled back into a man-bun, and Will tried to push back the thought that Nico looked amazing.  
  
“Hey, Solace?” Nico said out of nowhere when they arrived at the van.  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“How easy do you think it would be to convince your siblings that shadow travel is a better option than getting Argus to drive?”  
  
Austin and Kayla despised shadow travel. A few times, Nico accidentally brought them to the wrong place, and he was usually pretty tired afterwards. Will’s siblings claimed that they were going to die after shadow travelling, and they put a strict ban on it.  
  
“Dude,” Will laughed. “You’ll have better luck convincing the Stoll’s not to steal or cheat at poker.”  
  
“Yeah,” Nico sighed. “I thought so, but it was worth a shot. It takes so much less time.”  
“Yeah, but it’s not good for your health,” Will pointed out.  
  
Nico shrugged like it wasn't that big a deal. Knowing Nico, he genuinely didn’t think it was.  
  
“Your powers take too much out of you,” Will said. “Do you know why?”  
  
“Uh, no,” Nico said quickly. Too quickly. Why was he hiding something? “How’s your mom doing? She left last night, right?”  
  
Will sighed. He wasn’t gonna get it out of Nico, at least not yet. He would go to Will when he was ready to talk about it. “Mom’s good. She’s getting ready for a triathlon to raise money for a PFLAG group at home.”  
  
“What’s PFLAG?” Nico asked, seeming genuinely confused. ‘Right, he’s from the thirties. How do I keep forgetting that?’ Will wondered.  
  
“Parents and family of lesbians and gays,” he explained. “It’s a thing to give LGBTQ kids more support and to help parents understand better. My moms trying to start one in rural Texas, so it’s not going so well. But the triathlon winner gets ten grand, so she’s hoping she wins it to help start the program.”  
  
“Oh, that’s cool,” Nico said, looking down slightly. Will wondered again what he was thinking. Nico could be really hard to read. “Can I tell you something?”  
  
“Anything,” Will told him, and Nico nodded once. He whistled to get everyone’s attention, and took a deep breath.  
  
“I’m only going to say this once, so listen up,” he started, twisting his ring. ‘He’s nervous,’ Will realized with shock. Nico didn’t usually get nervous. ‘This must be some big news.’  
  
“I—I’m gay,” Nico said, looking down. “Please don’t tell anyone.”  
  
Will’s heart soared. ‘Maybe there’s a chance for us after all.’  
  
“Cool,” Cecil said, clapping Nico on the shoulder. “Have you told Connor and Travis? They’ll be offended if you don’t, you know.”  
  
Nico nodded. “Yeah, I told them about a month ago.”  
  
“We’re all here for you, Nico,” Kayla assured, shooting Will a knowing look, and Will tried not to blush.  
  
“This is great! We can look at cute guys together!” Austin laughed. Of course, Austin was the biggest bisexual disaster half-human to ever exist. “You know Mitchell from the Aphrodite cabin? He’s pretty cute, right?”  
  
“Uh—yeah, I guess,” Nico said, both looking and sounding kinda flustered. Will smiled. “It’s all good, Nic. We’re all here for you.”  
  
“Yeah,” Lou smiled. “And none of us will tell anyone, don’t worry.”  
  
Nico breathed a small sigh of relief and smiled. “Thanks.”  
  
The rest of the day, Will couldn’t focus. The guy he’d been crushing on since he was eleven was also gay. There was a shot for him to date the son of Hades, and by hell he was gonna try to take it. 

  
  


“Hey, Will?” Nico said to him as they skipped rocks on the beach during the sing-along. “Can I ask you something?”  
  
“Anything,” Will told him, thinking that Nico was going to ask him out. Well, more hoping than thinking. Of course, that’s not what Nico asked.  
  
“Did you mean what you said?”  
  
“What?” Will’s blood ran cold. He knew exactly what Nico was talking about— the accidental ‘I love you’. He had thought they were going to pretend it had never happened. Apparently, he needed to update his prophetic powers because he was getting everything wrong where Nico di Angelo was concerned.  
  
“On our Iris-Message. You said you love me?” Nico’s voice was small, his eyes downcast. Will didn’t know what to say. Nico had caught him off guard, he had been planning on ignoring the Incident forever. He couldn’t lie as a son of the god of truth, but he couldn’t tell Nico the truth either.  
  
“I— well, the thing is that—“ Will sighed, deciding to just tell him the thing closest to the truth. “You’re my best friend, Nico. Of course I love you, but I didn’t mean to say that. I know you didn’t want to hear it, but I do. I’m sorry I said that, though. We can pretend it never happened, though, if you want.”  
  
“If it’s any consolation,” Nico said softly, “you’re my best friend, too.”  
  
“Thanks, Nic,” Will said with a smile. He chose to ignore how Nico artfully avoided saying ‘I love you’ back, and he tried to ignore the sinking of his heart at that. Of course, he didn’t expect Nico to actually love him back, but it still hurt. Why did it hurt so much?  
  
“No problem, Sunshine,” Nico said.  
  
“So does that mean I beat Percy, too?” Will asked. “And the Stoll’s?”  
  
Nico laughed and splashed Will, but he didn’t answer Will. The blond decided to take that to mean that he was better than the Stoll’s and Percy Jackson, which made him grin. He beat Nico’s brothers, who were his favourite people. That had to mean something, right?  
  
The two of them skipped rocks and laughed until the alarm went off to signal curfew. As Will hopped into bed that night, he thought about how Nico didn’t tell Will that he was uncomfortable or that he wanted Will to leave him alone. That had to mean something. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I will cover Nico coming out to the Stoll’s in his PoV. I’m going to publish chapter one of Nico’s PoV sometime over the next week, so get ready for that!  
> Ngl, I put in the whole ‘I love you’ thing purely for my own pleasure, and it really has nothing to do with the actual plot of this fic  
> Naomi is an amazing mom, in my humble opinion, even though we’ve never seen her in canon and we don’t even know if her name is actually Naomi  
> As always, comments and feedback are appreciated!


	6. Surprise, Nico!

Will, Austin, and Kayla stepped out of the elevator. Over the past two weeks, Percy Jackson had been reaching out to all of Nico’s friends to throw him a surprise party for his 13th birthday. Cecil and Lou Ellen had flown up from their respective homes the night before, and had joined the Stoll’s when they left camp to help Percy set up after breakfast. The three Apollo children had left after lunch, and had just arrived at Percy’s apartment.  
  
Will knocked on the door of apartment number 24, and a woman in her late 30’s opened the door. “You must be Will, Austin and Kayla. I’m Sally Jackson, Percy and Nico’s mom. Come on in, kids.”  
  
Will liked that she referred to herself as Nico’s mom, too. It was sweet.  
  
He looked around the neat apartment, thinking about how nice it was. Will liked the comfy looking furniture. The walls were light green, and there were lots of photos hung up of Percy and Nico. He couldn’t help thinking about what an amazing mom Ms. Jackson was.  
  
“Hey, guys!” Lou Ellen said, giving Will and Kayla hugs. She didn’t really like Austin. According to her, he hit on too many people. She wasn’t wrong, if Will was being honest. Which he usually was.  
  
“It’s good to see you.” Cecil pulled both Austin and Will into a big hug. He probably would’ve hugged Kayla, but then he would’ve been punched.  
  
“Just put your gifts on the coffee table,” Connor called from where he was hanging up streamers in the corner of the room.  
  
“How are you guys keeping Nico from showing up randomly?” Kayla asked Connor and Travis, who were tying balloons up on the other side of the living room. It was a valid question. Nico usually just went places whenever he wanted to, so it’d be weird if Nico didn’t show up early. It wouldn’t shock Will if Nico just forgot to show up at all.  
  
“Oh, Percy and Grover took him into town to go shopping and stuff. They have enough things planned to keep themselves busy for a few days. We’re gonna text Grover when we’re ready for Nico to come back,” Travis explained.  
  
“With what phone?” Will asked. It was dangerous for demigods to have phones.  
  
“Oh, Grover got us both burners that we’re planning on ditching the second we use them once,” Connor told him.  
  
Will nodded. That made more sense than possibly subjecting them to a monster attack. Will hadn’t been attacked since last July, and he wasn’t planning on getting attacked again anytime soon.  
  
“Sally! The cake’s ready!” A man called from another room. When he stepped into the living room, he kissed Ms. Jackson on the cheek. Will liked the guys frilly pink apron. “Hi, I’m Paul. You’re friends of Nico’s?”  
  
Will nodded, and shook his hand. “I’m Will Solace, and these are my siblings, Austin Lake and Kayla Knowles.”  
  
“Different fathers?” He asked.  
  
“Different moms, and the same absent father,” Austin corrected. “But Kayla actually doesn’t have a mom.”  
  
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Paul said, looking towards Kayla sympathetically.  
  
“Don’t be, I've got two dads,” she explained with a smile.  
  
“Oh, okay,” Paul said. “Well then, I take back my apology.”  
  
Will liked this guy already. “What can we do to help?”  
  
“Oh, hon, you can just go sit down and relax. Tyson and Annabeth should be here any time now, and we’ve already decorated and made the food. The only thing left to do is text Grover to bring Nico back here,” Ms. Jackson said with a smile. “I’ll bring out some chips and soda, alright?”  
  
“Okay,” Will said. He felt bad for not helping out. “Thanks for the food, Ms. Jackson.”  
  
“Oh, please, call me Sally. Ms. Jackson makes me feel old, and I already feel old. I’ve got a fifteen year old son and I drive a Volvo.”  
  
Will nodded and sat with his friends and siblings as they waited for the last few people to arrive. He enjoyed a few chips and a Diet Coke, chatting aimlessly with his friends. After about fifteen minutes, Tyson the Cyclops and Annabeth Chase walked through the door.  
  
“Sorry we took so long,” Tyson said in his booming voice. Sometimes Will forgot that he was only eight or nine. “Annie saw a spider and made us wait for a different bus.”  
  
“It was huge!” Annabeth cried, and Will bit down a laugh. It was insane how terrifying the Athena kids found spiders.  
  
“I’ll text Percy and Grover to head over here now,” Connor said, pulling the burner phone out of his hoodie pocket.  
  
“What smells so good?” Annabeth asked as she and Tyson sat down inside.  
  
“Red velvet cake,” Paul said happily. “It’s a Blofis family recipe.”  
  
‘Blofis?’ Will wondered. ‘Did Ms— Sally have a thing for fish men?’  
  
“They’ll be here in any second now, apparently they were just down the street,” Connor said before chucking the burner phone out the window. ‘Well that’s one way to get rid of a phone,’ Will thought. “Everyone, hide behind the furniture.”  
  
Will took a place behind the couch next to Annabeth, as Sally turned off the lights and Paul brought out the cake. After a minute of sitting in the dark, they heard the jingle of keys and muffled voices from the other side of the door. The second the lights turned on, everyone jumped up and yelled surprise, Percy and Grover included.  
  
“Merda Santa!” Nico yelled as he jumped almost a foot in the air.  
  
“Happy birthday, Nic,” Will said with a smile and a laugh. He knew Nico would be shocked, but that was hands down the best reaction ever. Nico’s eyes bugged out, he literally jumped a foot in the air, and he jumped onto Percy in surprise, which is something Will noticed Nico occasionally doing. If something scared him enough, Nico jumped into the person or object nearest to him. It had happened with trees, Percy, Will, both of the Stoll’s, lamp posts, columns in front of buildings at camp, chairs, and one very confused waiter.   
  
“Nico?” Percy laughed. “You can jump down now.”  
  
Nico’s arms were still wrapped around Percy, who was still holding Nico bridal style from where he jumped on him. Nico glared at Percy and let go before hopping down. “Hello.”  
  
That launched everyone into a round of giggles, Nico included. Will walked over and put a hand on Nico’s shoulder. “Sorry for scaring you, but we’ve got presents and cake?”  
  
“You are all forgiven,” Nico said jokingly, apparently over his embarrassment. They walked further into the room and Nico sat down on the couch. Will sat down next to him and passed him his gift.  
  
“Here!” he said excitedly. “Open my gift first, please!”  
  
“You guys really didn’t have to do this,” Nico said, hesitantly taking the gift from Will. “It’s just a birthday.”  
  
“Of course we had to do this, di Angelo!” Connor said, clapping Will on the back. “It’s your birthday, you’re 13! We had to do something.”  
  
“Just open the gift, Nico,” Will said before the son of Hades could protest.  
  
“Okay…” Nico unwrapped the gift, and grinned at the present inside. “This is awesome, Solace!”  
  
“I thought you’d like it,” Will said.  
  
“What is it?” Sally asked. Nico flipped around the frame so everyone could see. It was a framed embroidery of one of Nico’s favourite quotes. Will had actually made it himself, just like he did with Nico’s Christmas gift.  
  
“‘I have hated the words, and I have loved them. And I hope I have made them right’,” Percy read. “What is that?”  
  
“It’s from The Book Thief,” Nico said.  
  
“Where’d you find this?” Annabeth asked. “It’s really cool, I might want to get an embroidered quote.”  
  
“I, uh, I made it,” Will said. “My mom taught me needlepoint when I was little.”  
  
“That’s really awesome, honey,” Sally said with a smile.  
  
“Okay, Will is amazing at giving gifts, and he knows Nico better than all of us combined, blah blah blah, yadda yadda,” Lou Ellen said, shoving a bag at Nico. “This is from me and Cecil.”  
  
“Okay,” Nico said, opening it up. He really wasn’t that good at accepting affection. Will was gonna have to work on that. When Nico pulled the gift out, he smiled at Cecil and Lou. “This is really cool, thanks guys!”  
  
“Is that a lava lamp?” Grover asked.  
  
“Yeah!” Cecil said excitedly. “Lou used some Hecate magic to make it always run, so it doesn’t need electricity or anything!”  
  
“It was Cecil’s idea,” Lou Ellen said with a look of pride at her boyfriend. Will wondered if he and Nico would ever give gifts together, or if Nico would ever look at Will that way.  
  
“It’s amazing,” Nico said. “Seriously, you guys are awesome.”

  
  
  


The rest of the night went pretty much the same as that. Nico thanked everyone and told them that they were amazing, and in turn, everyone told Nico not to worry about it. Austin and Kayla went in on a gift together and got Nico a few new tapes for his Walkman, which of course Nico had. Connor and Travis got Nico new books (which they said weren’t stolen, but Will wasn’t sure if he believed them). Sally, Paul, Percy, and Tyson got Nico a radio and a few CD’s, which Nico looked thrilled about. As a joke, Percy had also given Nico a deck of Mythomagic cards. Will didn’t think that Nico knew what to do with himself when he saw them. Of course, Will laughed along with everyone else. The last gift was a signed copy of The Philosopher’s Stone from Annabeth. Nico had no idea what Harry Potter was, which Will was astounded by, and Annabeth just told him to read it.  
  
The cake was absolutely amazing, Paul really knew how to make good desserts. Will had a good time shoving Nico’s face into his slice of cake, and laughed his head off when Nico retaliated by throwing some of Sally’s seven layer dip at him. Well, ‘threw’ wasn’t exactly the right word. Nico filled a chip with the dip and shoved it over Will’s mouth. Even hours later, after he left the party, he would still be thinking of the fact that Nico had actually touched his lips, and on purpose, no less. This, of course, led to a food fight, which would have gone on longer than it did, but Sally and Paul reminded them that whatever mess they made, they would have to clean.  
  
The best part, in Will’s opinion, was that Nico went and hung the frame on his wall as soon as they were done opening gifts. Will wouldn’t have known, but he went to help Nico put everything away, which was totally not an excuse to go into Nico’s room. On the wall between the bed and the window was the first embroidery Will made for Nico, and Nico hung up the second one next to it. Will liked that Nico had hung them up next to his bed, it was sweet.  
  
The only downside was how short the party ended up being. Since Lou Ellen, Cecil and Annabeth had to go back to their homes the next day, they all left after they finished the cake. Grover and Tyson both headed out not long after that, and that left the rest of them to clean up before leaving. Will wished he could have stayed longer, but Argus was picking them up at 10 sharp.  
  
“That is for coming, guys,” Percy said as they were leaving. “It was really nice to have you all over.”  
  
Nico nodded beside his surrogate brother, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah. You all seriously didn’t have to do all of this.”  
  
Will laughed. “Of course we did, you’re our friend, and it’s your birthday.”  
  
“Exactly,” Connor agreed. “You know we’d do anything for you, Nico. You’re like our brother, we’ll always be there for you.”  
  
Travis and Connor both have Nico hugs before they turned to leave. “We’ll meet y’all in the car, yeah?”  
  
“Yeah,” Kayla said before turning to Nico. “It was really nice to see you, Nico. Happy birthday.”  
  
“Happy birthday, man.” Austin clapped Nico on the shoulder, and then turned to Sally and Paul. “Thanks for having us, we had a great time.”  
  
“Oh, you’re welcome any time,” Sally said with a smile. Did she just naturally smile, or was she just always smiling for no reason?  
  
“Well, it was still really nice of y’all to throw Nico a birthday party,” Will said before turning to the birthday boy. “Happy birthday, di Angelo.”  
  
Will opened his arms for a hug, and Nico rolled his eyes but complied.  
  
“Thanks, Solace,” Nico said as he pulled away from what had to be the shortest hug in the history of hugs. It was odd since they’d hugged before, and Nico was all for normal times hugs. In fact, he usually seemed reluctant to let go, but tried really hard to make it seem like he was excited for it to be over (it would’ve fooled anyone else, but Will knew Nico). Will didn’t think he would ever figure Nico out.  
  
“See you guys soon,” Austin said as they walked out the door and headed back down to the lobby.  
  
“Do you guys think that Nico meant to touch my lips?” Will asked as they rode the elevator downstairs. Both of his siblings groaned.  
  
“No, dude,” Austin said. “I genuinely think it was a mistake while he was trying to get back at you for shoving cake at your face.”  
  
“Will, if he meant to touch your lips, you would know,” Kayla huffed. She really was sick of listening to Will talk about Nico, wasn’t she?  
  
“Fine,” Will sighed. “I guess you’re right.”  
  
He knew they were right. Nico didn’t think of him like that, they were just friends. If he did, he probably would’ve asked Will our by now. But part of Will still wanted to believe it had been on purpose. He told that part of him to shut up. Nico did not think of him that way. The thought was completely preposterous. Wasn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely don’t know what this was. I wanted Percy to throw Nico a surprise party for his birthday, but this chapter was literally a half-baked idea that turned out weird  
> Anyways, the quote thing was just a headcanon of mine (and a lot of projecting since I, too, am a huge Book Thief fan) and there will be more on Nico and Will loving quotes later on in the series  
> Percy and Nico becoming sort-of family after the Battle of the Labyrinth is amazing, especially since it makes the whole Styx thing so much angstier, which I live for  
> As always, I hope you enjoyed, and I would love comments or feedback! Find me on tumblr @i-am-triple-a


	7. You’d Better Explain Later, I’m Invested Now

Will sat in the break room of the infirmary, waiting for Nico to Iris Message him. Michael sat next to him, babbling about his new step-mom, who was completely fake and made him wish he didn’t have to go home three weeks a year.  
  
Will nodded along, and agreed with Michael at all the right parts, but he wasn’t really paying attention. He was mostly waiting for Nico to call. He was twenty minutes late.  
  
“... and I know you don’t really get it since your mom never remarried or started dating again, but it sucks. I mean, you’ve heard the horror stories from around—“  
  
“Hey, Will,” Nico said from the Iris Message that popped up without either of the sons of Apollo noticing. “Hey, Michael.”  
  
“Hey, Nico!” Will grinned as his older brother waved to his friend.  
  
“Nico, could you explain to Will why having a step parent is awful?”  
  
Nico shrugged. “I don’t really remember my parents, so I couldn’t tell you. Plus I grew up in the thirties, so I doubt anyone was getting a parent of the year award.”  
  
Will was shocked that Nico mentioned it so casually. He only found out about the time-frozen hotel from a camp rumour, and Nico didn’t talk about his past often. If he did tell Will a story about his past, he would just refer to it as ‘back in Italy’, and wouldn’t mention anything about the 1930’s. Most demigods didn’t speak about their pasts, as they all had some trauma in their lives from before finding out they were children of the gods, but Nico never spoke to anyone about his past other than Will.  
  
Michael shrugged. “Fair point. But I’m not taking any risks. I don’t want to end up getting my ass kicked for existing, y’know? Anyways, I’ll leave you guys to your conversation. See you around, Nico.”  
  
“See ya, Michael,” Nico called as Will’s brother walked out of the break room. “Sorry I was late for calling you, Will. I lost track of time.”  
  
“It’s alright, don’t worry about it,” Will said happily. “I’m just happy you did call. Better late than never and all that.”  
  
Nico chuckled. “Thanks, Will. How’re things at camp?”  
  
“Pretty good. It’s still hard without Lee. I mean, Michael won’t say it, but I know he’s struggling with being head of Cabin Seven. But I was put in charge of the infirmary, which is awesome! I’m really excited to help everyone.”  
  
“That’s awesome, Will! I’m really happy for you!”  
  
“Thanks, Nico. So where are you now?”  
  
“New Orleans. I’m kinda following a lead on my family? One of my sisters lived here, according to my dad, so I’m hoping I can find out a bit more on that.”  
  
“That’s amazing, Nico!” Will felt his grin widen, which he didn’t think was possible. “I hope you find what you’re looking for out there.”  
  
“Me too. And I hope you find what you’re looking for in camp.”  
  
Will smiled softly, and then everything on Nico’s end went black for a second.  
  
“Nico! What’s going on?” Will cried as he watched Nico tumble out of a bush. “Are you alright?”   
  
“Ouch,” Nico mumbled as he stood up and dusted himself off. He looked in front of him, past Will, and surprise washed over his face. “Percy?”  
  
“Nico?” a voice asked, and Will saw Percy step forward as Thalia Grace gasped from the other side of the Iris Message.  
  
“Bianca’s little brother?”  
  
Nico scowled. “What the hell am I doing here? One minute, I’m in New Orleans, and the next, I’m in— where is this, New York? Why am I in New York?!”  
  
“I don’t know, I was just taking an exam, and then Mrs O’Leary popped up and dragged me down here! Also, apparently people see her as a poodle?”  
  
“Whatever, Jackson,” Thalia grumbled before glaring at Will. “Who is that?”  
  
“Will?” Percy asked, just noticing that he was still on an Iris Message with Nico.  
  
“Hey, Percy. Thalia.” Will waved shyly, still confused as to what was going on. Whatever it was, he was certain it was going to be bad.  
  
“Will, I’m gonna have to call you back,” Nico said as he looked back at the son of Apollo. “We need to figure out what the hell is going on, cause I’m sure it’s not good.”  
  
“Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine,” Thalia mumbled. “It could just be a coincidence.”  
  
Nico turned back and gave her a flat look. “The children of the Big Three pushed into the same place for some unknown reason. I’m sure that it’s just some amazing coincidence, especially since we’re in the middle of a war.”  
  
“He’s got a point,” Percy chuckled, and Will figured it was time he ducked out.  
  
“Right! Well, call me when this is over, Nico, cause now I’m very curious. But you guys have fun, and try not to get killed, okay?”  
  
Nico rolled his eyes, but Will could tell he was just hiding a smile. “See you later, Solace.”  
  
Nico ran his hand through the Iris Message. The last thing Will heard was Percy interrogating Nico about ‘how long have you and Will been Iris Messaging?’

  
  
  
  


Three hours later, Nico called Will back. “Hey, Will.”  
  
He looked tired, and he had a bruise above his eye, but other than that, he seemed fine. “Hey, Nico! Are you alright? What happened?”  
  
Nico explained how Persephone made a sword for Hades without his permission, and then a Titan stole it, so she summoned all the Big Three kids to retrieve it for her. Apparently, Percy threw the Titan into the River of Forgetfulness, and now he was a janitor named Bob. Nico decided to stay in the Underworld for a while and get to know his father in the hopes that he might be able to get Hades to listen to some sound advice for a change.  
  
When he finished telling Will the story, he sighed dramatically. “I just wish that I’d be able to keep looking for my family, but that’ll have to wait for a while, I guess.”  
  
“You’ll find them, Nico. You’re very curious and very stubborn. You’ll figure out everything about your past, I know it.”  
  
Nico smiled at Will. “Thanks.”  
  
“You’re probably really tired, though, right?”   
  
“No, I could talk for hours,” Nico yawned.  
  
Will chuckled. “Alright. I’m gonna hang up now, I guess. Have fun in the Underworld, and remember that you’re supposed to be here in a week.”   
  
“Yup. See you then, Solace.”  
  
“See you, Nico.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this!   
> I thought I should include at least one chapter that has Nico and Will Iris-Messaging, as it’s a huge part of their relationship and how they get to know each other in this fic  
> As always, comments and feedback are appreciated, and you can find me on tumblr @i-am-triple-a


	8. Why Is Nico Acting Weird?

“Will, relax, alright?” Kayla groaned. “Arthur has got everything handled. He doesn’t want you to worry anymore, so please stop stressing! The infirmary is fine!”  
  
Arthur Maliseet, Will’s younger brother, had started taking over the infirmary one day a week so that Will and Michael could have a break. But Will still didn’t want to leave him alone. He believed that since his most useful gift from Apollo was healing, he should stay there almost twenty-four/seven to take care of the place. Of course, every single one of his friends and siblings told him that he was ridiculous and needed to relax, but Will didn’t listen. Nico had even told Will to take it easy, and Nico rarely took anything easy.  
  
“What’s Nico doing here?” Lou Ellen asked, dragging the conversation away from the infirmary, where it had been stuck for the past hour.  
  
“Nico’s not here,” Will said. If the son of Hades was coming to Camp Half-Blood early, he would have told Will he was coming. “He comes tomorrow, not today.”  
  
Lou rolled her eyes and gestures to some people sitting underneath one of the apple trees. “Well, if he’s not here, then someone better call and ask who stole his face.”  
  
“Your sarcasm is much appreciated, Lou Ellen,” Will grumbled as he looked at the people. Sure enough, there sat Cecil and Austin, speaking to a guy with unruly black curls, and a beaten up aviator jacket. It was Nico. “What’s he doing here?”  
  
“Here’s a million dollar idea— go talk to Nico, and ask what he’s doing here,” Kayla said with an eye roll. Will glared at her, but changed course to walk over to his friend, crush, and brother underneath the apple tree. He vaguely registered Lou and Kayla yelling for him to say hi to Nico for them as they walked off towards the amphitheater, but he didn’t really care. He was more excited at the fact that Nico had come by early.  
  
“Nico!” Will called when he got within a few feet of the chatting boys. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t supposed to be coming until tomorrow? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see you and everything, I was just wondering.”  
  
As he sat down with Cecil, Austin, and Nico, Will couldn’t help but notice that Nico looked slightly unnerved, and both Austin and Cecil looked guilty. What had they done? Why was Nico acting weird?  
  
“I thought I was supposed to come today,” Nico mumbled. “We agreed on the twelfth of February, right?”  
  
“Yeah, but the twelfth is tomorrow. It’s the eleventh,” Will informed him. Nico sometimes got dates and times wrong, and Will understood that as well as any other demigod at Camp Half-Blood. ADHD made you forget things like that sometimes.  
  
“Oh,” Nico said, not looking Will in the eye. Did he do something wrong?  
  
The son of Apollo ignored it and grinned. “Well, you can just stay until tomorrow, then, right? That way you’re actually here on the day you’re supposed to, right?”  
  
Nico shrugged and looked at Cecil and Austin, seemingly for help. They were both looking down, and occasionally looking at Will guiltily. Seriously, what had happened? “I don’t know, Solace. I mean, I already made plans to stay at the Jackson’s tonight, and if I don’t show, Ms. Jackson is gonna kill me.”  
  
“Well, why don’t we meet up with you again in the city tomorrow?” Will said, before getting an amazing idea. “Oh! Chiron’s already looking after the infirmary tomorrow, so I could get permission to stay at the Jacksons with you! If you don’t think they’d mind?”  
  
“Willoughby, leave Nico alone,” Austin chided.  
  
“I’m not bugging anyone,” Will pointed out. At least, Will didn’t think he was bothering anyone. But the way Nico was looking around worriedly and fidgeting said otherwise. Why was he acting strange?  
  
“I should go see the Stoll’s,” Nico said, standing abruptly. “I said I’d help them to find a new spot for their stash, cause Chiron’s apparently figuring out where it is.”  
  
“Yeah, I should join you,” Cecil said. “They were bugging me about it, too.”  
  
“Oh—okay,” Will said, feeling disappointed and trying to push down the thought that Nico was trying to avoid him. “Could I join you guys? I mean, I’ve been coming to camp since I was four. I’ve probably got the best idea of places to hide things, right?”  
  
The look of panic on Nico’s face was gone so quickly, Will thought he may have imagined it. The son of Hades immediately stuttered and shook his head. “No—I mean, no. I don’t want to be a bother to you, I know you don’t like breaking rules or anything like that, and this would be breaking at least ten.”  
  
“Yeah, Will,” Austin said, and Will pretended not to notice the grateful look that Nico gave his brother. “Besides, I need your help with my instruments. My trombone and saxophone need to be shined, my violin strings need to be waxed, my guitar needs to be tuned, and my flute needs to be cleaned.”  
  
“Oh. Okay,” Will said dejectedly. He felt a little bad about the feeling of satisfaction at the guilty look on Nico’s face. “But I’ll see you later, right, Nico?”  
  
“Uh, yeah. Sure,” Nico said, not sounding too convincing.  
  
“And about coming tomorrow or me staying at the Jacksons?”  
  
“I dunno, Solace,” Nico sighed. “I’ll see about it, alright?”  
  
“Alright,” Will said, wondering why Nico was being short with him. Seriously, what was up with Nico? What happened? Did Will do something to Nico?  
  
Nico and Cecil walked off. ‘He didn’t even say goodbye,’ Will thought miserably. ‘What is going on with Nico?’  
  
“Austin, do you know what’s going on with Nico?” he asked his brother. The guilty look returned to Austin’s face. What was going on?  
  
“Nico just got some… shocking news,” Austin admitted. “He’s just trying to figure it out and take it in, I think.”  
  
“What news?” Will asked. What was so shocking and scary that Nico couldn’t tell Will (his self-admitted best friend), but he could talk to Austin and Cecil about it? “Is everything alright with him?”  
  
“Will, I can’t tell you. Nico doesn’t want you to know yet. He literally only found out about this thing today, and he doesn’t want you to be uncomfortable with it. He’ll tell you when he’s ready. You know that. It’s Nico. He doesn’t speak to people until he’s ready to, and when he’s ready to, he’ll seek you out.”  
  
Will sighed. He knew that. But it didn’t mean he didn’t feel awkward and sad about it. “Yeah, I guess. Can you at least give me a ballpark idea of what the news was? I’m really worried about him.”  
  
“You’re always worried about him,” Austin said with an eye roll, “but no. I can’t tell you. I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough, though.”  
  
Will sighed. He had a feeling that his and Nico’s relationship was about to take a turn for the worse. The best he could do was hope that Nico would come to him soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What was the big news Nico got? You’ll find that out later on in this fic and in Nico’s PoV (I will be posting the first chapter of Nico’s PoV sometime in the next week)  
> Will is right. their relationship is going to go a little downhill here, and way downhill in about two or so chapters. In the wise words of Scar, be prepared  
> Sorry this chapter is so short, btw. I just wanted to get this in because this chapter is brought up quite a bit after here, so keep this chapter in your minds  
> I hope you enjoyed this, and as always, comments and kudos are appreciated!


	9. A Wedding?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico starts to act more normal since the last chapter, but Will still doesn't know what was going on with him  
> Nico really has an issue of running from his feelings and other people in canon, so I wanted to include that in here. This is not going to be the last time Nico runs  
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated!

Nico had slowly started to act more normal since his last visit. He hadn’t ended up staying for long that day, he didn’t even stay for lunch. Whenever he saw Will, he got up and walked the other way or came up with a lame excuse to leave. Nico didn’t even say goodbye that day. Will had ended up crying the whole night, trying to find out what he did to make Nico hate him.  
  
The next two weeks, he missed his Iris-Message calls with Will. When Will tried to call him, the Iris-Message popped up with ‘we are sorry, but the person you are trying to contact is unavailable to speak right now. Please try again later’. Will tried getting the Stoll’s, Cecil, Lou Ellen, Austin and Kayla to call him. He answered all of them, but hung up as soon as he saw Will. He even called Percy and Annabeth to see if either of them knew what happened with the son of Hades. Annabeth didn’t answer, but Percy did. He said that Nico was staying with him for a few days, and just needed a bit of space. When Will asked what was going on, Percy said pretty much the same thing as Austin. ‘He got some big news, he needs to process it. When he wants to talk about it, he’ll come to you.’  
  
Finally, after two and a half weeks of Nico avoiding Will, he Iris-Messaged. It wasn’t really to talk about anything important, mostly just to apologize for not talking to Will. The weird thing was that Nico seemed to try to pretend nothing had happened. He jumped into a story about this homeless girl he’d seen who asked for money because she was very gay. Will was upset that Nico wasn’t telling him what happened, but he wasn’t going to push Nico anymore, in the fear that he’d push Nico away again. He couldn’t handle that.  
  
Nico called again a week later, and still didn’t explain what happened that Nico was ghosting him, pardon the pun.  
  
“Will?” Nico said through the message. He was in a room with gemstones implanted in the brown walls and a lot of light. Will figured it was a room in Hades’ Palace in the Underworld.  
  
“Nico!” Will exclaimed, walking to the break room of the infirmary. “What’s up? How are you?”  
  
“I’m alright,” Nico muttered. “I’m still sorry for avoiding you for a couple weeks. I was just… thinking a lot.”  
  
“About what?” Will knew that sometimes, Nico just needed a push. He came to Will and mentioned it, so that had to mean he was ready to talk. Right?  
  
“Not important,” Nico told him. ‘Apparently not,’ Will thought. “I actually wanted to ask you about something?”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Well, Ms. Jackson is getting married to Mr. Blofis? You know, the guy from my birthday party? They told me to bring a plus one, so I was wondering if you would come? As my friend, y’know?”  
  
Will grinned. He’d always loved weddings. Maybe both he and Michael were Aphrodite kids in a past life. “I’d love to go! I’m sure I can find someone to look after the infirmary for a day. When is it?”  
  
“March 15.”  
  
“That’s in two weeks,” Will said, extremely shocked that someone would wait this long to have an added guest. “Are they doing a smaller wedding or something?”  
  
“It is pretty small, yeah. But Ms. Jackson’s okay with it, mainly because I kinda alreadytoldheryouagreedtocome.”  
  
“What?” Will asked. Nico had been speaking so fast, and so quietly, Will couldn’t understand a single word of what Nico said at the end.  
  
“I kinda already told her that you would come.” Nico looked down, kind of ashamed.  
  
“Nico, I need to get a suit for that, and I need to get a gift, and I need to get make sure the infirmary is taken care of, and—“  
  
“Relax. I’m going suit shopping with Ms. Jackson and Percy tomorrow. You can come, and I’ll pay for everything. You don’t need to get a gift, I already got one, you just have to sign the card. And the infirmary will be fine, Solace. Your brothers have got everything under control.”  
  
Will sighed. He wasn’t sure about it, especially since he wouldn’t be paying for anything and he felt bad, and he wasn’t sure about leaving the infirmary for at least two extra days. But he really wanted to go to the wedding with Nico.  
  
“Alright,” he said reluctantly. He wanted to go, but he wasn’t letting Nico pay for everything. “But I’m paying for my suit. My mom’s supposed to come tomorrow anyways, so she’ll join us, and we will pay for the suit. I’ll pay you back for half of the gift. And please Nico, no arguments.”  
  
Nico looked like he was gonna argue until Will said ‘no arguments’. Instead of debating who would pay with Will, Nico huffed. “Fine. But you aren’t paying for the gift, alright? I already bought it, all you have to do is sign your name, okay?”  
  
“I’m paying—“  
  
“No. Got it?”  
  
“Fine,” Will huffed. “I’ll just sign the stupid card.”  
  
“Good.” Nico looked satisfied, and Will was annoyed at that. “We’ll meet you and your mom at the RW&CO on 26th at nine tomorrow?”  
  
“Alright,” Will said, realizing that he was actually going to go shopping with his mom. And his crush. And his crushes surrogate family. It’s not like he’d never met Percy and Sally before, but it was still awkward, especially since he and Nico weren’t speaking for a few weeks and Will still didn’t know why. He decided to bring it up with Nico. “Are we okay?”  
  
”Why wouldn’t we be?” Nico asked.  
  
“Cause you avoided me for over two weeks, and then acted like nothing happened, and you still haven’t told me why you weren’t talking to me, or what I did?”  
  
“You didn’t do anything!” Nico said quickly. “I just got some weird news—“  
  
“Yeah, I know,” Will snapped. Why was he getting mad? He thought this was going to be a calm conversation. Things were back on track with them, Nico was talking to him again— was he really jeopardizing that? “You had some thinking to do. You needed some space. You got some big, weird, shocking news. But I still don’t know what happened. Why did you shut me out? I thought you were never going to speak to me again? I thought that you hated me, and I still don’t know why!”  
  
Nico sighed. “Will, I can't tell you, cause you’ll freak the fuck out if you knew. I can tell you that you might find out eventually, but I’m not sure you will.”  
  
“So why does everyone else get to know, but your self-proclaimed best friend can’t know about it?”  
  
“Cause you’ll freak out, and I don’t want you to get stressed or worried when you’re almost constantly stressed and worried. Because you’re my best friend, and I don’t want you to get hurt, alright? And if you knew, you would get hurt, so it might suck not to know, but it’s for the best, okay, Solace?”  
  
Will didn’t know what to say. All the frustration built up in him seemed to melt away. Nico was just trying to help him out. “Will I ever find out?”  
  
“Probably,” Nico admitted. “Someday.”  
  
“That’s hope-inspiring,” Will grumbled, causing Nico to laugh. Will looked up and grinned. Nico looked nice when he laughed—his eyes crinkled in the corners, and his face lightened up the entire room. Of course, Nico always looked nice, but especially so when he was laughing. It was a contagious laugh, too. Pretty soon, both Nico and Will were giggling their asses off.  
  
“Will!” Michael called from the door to the break room. “Curfews in ten, and we still have to lock up! Finish your call!”  
  
“So,” Will said between giggles. “Nico. We should— it’s getting late, we should go.”  
  
“Yeah, I heard your brother,” Nico chuckled. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, right, Solace?”  
  
“Yeah. You get to meet my mom,” Will grinned.  
  
“Yeah,” Nico laughed. “And I get to see you in a suit. I really don’t think I’ve ever seen you out of your cargo shorts, t-shirts, flip-flops and hoodies before.”  
  
“And I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear anything nice,” Will retorted.  
  
“You are a beacon of good humour, Solace,” Nico joked. “See you tomorrow.”  
  
Will nodded with a smile as Nico sliced his hand through the IM screen. It was sweet that Nico invited him to his surrogate moms wedding. But a little voice in his head wondered why Nico had ditched him, why he had refused to speak to Will for a couple weeks. Nico had said they were okay, but was that really true? What was gonna happen after the wedding? Were they really okay, or was Nico just saying that? And most importantly, what the fuck was happening with Nico, and why did he avoid seeing Will?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I promise that you will find out what happened very shortly, but there will be a wedding then angst first  
> Nico has a real issue with running away from feelings and people in cannon, so I wanted to add some of that in this fic. This is not the last time that Nico will run in this fic  
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated


	10. Save The Last Dance For Me

Will was at the wedding reception with Nico, Percy and Grover. Percy and Nico were making fun of eachother, but in a sweet way, while Will and Grover laughed at them. Sally was dancing with her new husband, and she’d already forced Nico and Percy to dance with her. Will was expecting Nico to trip or stumble during the dance so he could bug him about it later, but apparently, Nico was an expert at ballroom dancing. Will asked him about it, but Nico just shrugged and smiled cheekily.  
  
As Percy and Nico bickered, Will decided to get another look around the room. The wedding was really nice— Nico was right when he said it was small (there were only about twenty people there). Sally and Paul (as they insisted he call them) had rented out a dance hall, had one of their mutual friends officiate, and got Percy and Nico to be groomsmen. A few of Sally’s friends had made the centrepieces, which were cornflowers, iris’, and blue stars in teal stained-glass bowls with light blue beads placed artfully along the sides of the vases. Will had taken pictures for the Apollo Cabin Wedding Board, which had been started by Kayla, which was shocking since Kayla called weddings ‘overrated expensive pageantry that should be eradicated’.  
  
The one thing Will didn’t understand was why the food was mostly blue. The cake, the cookies, the candies, even the fruit was blue. How they had managed to find edible blue spray paint for the strawberries was beyond Will. The dinner was a delicious buffet, but anything that could be blue was blue. It was blue lobster, and blue mushrooms’ neptune, and blue corn, blue potatoes with blue cheese, and blue fish that Percy called ‘lingcod’. He understood the wedding had a theme, and it was a nice look, but the son of Apollo thought it was a little excessive. He hadn’t worked up the courage to ask because it was Paul and Sally’s wedding, and they could do what they wanted, but he made a mental note to ask Nico about it later.  
  
Speaking of Nico, Will had to admit (and even if he didn't have to, he would probably still admit it) that Nico looked like he was born to wear a suit. It fit him beautifully, and it stretched nicely across his chest (which was covered in a binder, even though Mr. D had blessed all of the trans kids by switching their hormone makers to be the correct ones, so Nico’s chest stopped developing when he was eleven, and his body was now making more T than E. Will guessed he couldn’t really talk though, since his chest had never started developing thanks to showing up at camp for the first time when he was four, and he still wore a binder just in case). The suit fit his shoulders nicely, and showed off his surprisingly jacked biceps. The best part was that the colour pallet for the wedding was varying shades of blue, so Nico’s suit and tie were navy blue, while his dress shirt and pocket square (because yes, he had a pocket square!) were light blue. He had ditched the jacket part way through the night and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, and Will had a hard time looking away from Nico. He was always beautiful, but Nico dressed up was beautiful on a whole other level. Over all, Will was thrilled that Nico had invited him.  
  
But there was one thing missing, that was off about the night. The best part of weddings, in Will’s not-so-humble opinion. He turned to Nico, who was currently trying to explain to Percy that American pizza was not real pizza, and tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
“—and the sauce is complete garbage— yes, Will?” It was kinda cute how Nico went from passive-aggressively and impatiently arguing with Percy, to looking calm and patient as he turned to Will, his voice going from slightly agitated to serene.  
  
“We should dance,” Will told him, ignoring how Percy and Grover grinned and shot each other knowing looks. He focussed on his best friend, who was blushing slightly, and glancing around nervously.  
  
“Why?” Nico asked, his voice clipped, all of the serenity and sweetness that was directed at Will the moment before seeping away.  
  
“Because,” Will began, “you invited me to a wedding, and the best part of weddings is dancing, and I don’t really know anyone else here we’ll enough to dance with, and you’re a good dancer, if what I saw with Sally was anything to go off of, and we’re friends, so why not?”  
  
“You know why not,” Nico pointed out. Will did know why Nico was opposed to it. He didn’t know everyone at the wedding well, he was worried about being called out for being gay, and he was worried about what people would think of him. But Will knew that Nico would have no issue with it as soon as they were dancing, so he decided to make a joke.  
  
“I could go put on a dress,” Will grinned. Normally, wearing a dress made him feel weird, because he was worried that he would be perceived as a girl, even though his voice was now too deep, and his legs and arms were too hairy, and he was even starting to grow facial hair (just peach fuzz, but soon he would have to shave a beard, and he couldn’t wait. He might even grow a goatee), and he really didn’t look like a girl anymore. But there was still that worry. One time, Lou Ellen had dared him to spend the day in a dress, and the whole time he felt like that same little boy who was scared of his neighbours who would try to exorcise him and throw holy water on him until he wore dresses and grew his hair out (that’s why his mom sent to Camp Half-Blood full time, if anyone was wondering). But if it meant that he could dance with his crush/best friend, he was more than willing to do so.  
  
“Will,” Nico warned. Will sighed. He knew Nico’s real warnings and his fake and teasing warnings, and this was a real warning. This was a real ‘Solace, drop it now’ moment.  
  
“Okay,” Will conceded. “I get it. I’m gonna go get some more lemonade, I guess.”  
  
Will walked away from the only people there that he knew, and refilled his cup with (you guessed it) blue lemonade. He watched Percy and Grover whisper-shout at Nico, who was gesturing wildly. Will shook his head— Nico wouldn’t budge, he knew that, and they sure as shit had to know that by now. Right? Will grabbed a cookie for himself (and one for Nico, too. Just as an apology for pushing him too far) and walked back over to the other demigods just in time to see Percy shove something into the son of Hades’ pocket.  
  
“Here,” Will said, passing Nico the cookie. They were small cookies, and both Nico and Will swallowed them in two bites.  
  
“Will, Nico’s got something to show you,” Grover smiled as soon as Will got back, and Nico glared furiously at him. Percy clapped Nico on the shoulder reassuringly, and nodded in agreement.  
  
“Yeah, it’s out in the hall. Why don’t you go ahead?” Percy said, shoving them towards the door. Will was curious. What was going on?  
  
“Nic?” Will asked as Nico walked off, grumbling in Ancient Greek about fish-brained morons and stupid goats. “What’s going on? Where are we going?”  
  
Nico didn’t answer until they got in the hallway, and away from the crowd in the small rec room. The brunet pulled out something out of his pocket. ‘That’s what Percy put in there,’ Will thought. ‘But why?’  
  
“Nic?”  
  
Nico looked up at Will briefly, and then his eyes returned to the phone as he scrolled through something. A soft song started to play as Nico tucked the phone back into his pocket. It was a waltz, Will realized with shock. Were they really going to dance together?  
  
“You said you wanted to dance,” Nico mumbled, holding out his left hand for Will to take. “So let’s do this, I guess.”  
  
Will grinned, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world. After setting his drink down behind them, Will grabbed Nico’s hand and put his other hand on Nico’s shoulder. “I don’t really know how to dance,” he confessed.  
  
“It’s really easy,” Nico said, his hand resting on Will’s waist. “You just kinda sway back and forth, and turn occasionally.”  
  
“Can we just stick to the swaying? I’m kind of clumsy.”  
  
“Hadn’t noticed.”  
  
“Nico!”  
  
“I know, Solace,” Nico laughed, already swaying back and forth with Will slightly. Will felt like he was on top of the world— nothing else mattered but the fact that he was here with Nico, who had even styled his hair for his surrogate-mom’s wedding.  
  
“So what changed your mind about dancing?” Will asked after a moment of silence. He thought he knew the answer, but he thought he’d ask first, just to confirm his suspicions about who to thank.  
  
“The Wonder Twins out there,” Nico mumbled, and Will laughed. He was right, and he really did owe the two of them a big thanks.  
  
“Of course,” he chuckled, thinking about what would happen if he just leaned down a little, and pressed his lips against Nico’s, like he’d been wanting to do since they’d met. Instead, he asked Nico a question. “Remind me why you hang out with me?”  
  
“Because… you’re you,” Nico huffed, looking down slightly. When he noticed Will’s expression, he explained a bit more. “I don’t know, you’re sweet, and funny, and really, really smart. I feel like I can be quiet around you, and not worry if I’m going to mess things up or make things uncomfortable, and I can randomly change the subject or infodump on you, and you ask questions and pretend to be interested, even when the topic at hand makes you want to fall asleep. You know when to push me, and when to drop a topic like the plague, and you’re really, really warm. Both in the literal and metaphorical sense, that is.”  
  
Nico blushed, and Will could feel his cheeks turn bright red as well. “Thanks, Nic. That’s really sweet of you. If it makes you feel any better, I think you’re pretty amazing, too.”  
  
“Thanks, Will,” Nico said. “What’s that thing Nietzsche said about music?”  
  
Will grinned. He seriously loved how Nico changed topics in such a straightforward nature, as opposed to subtly directing the subject to something else. And he really loved the Quote Game, as Nico had dubbed it. One of them would ask for a quote, and the other would have to come up with it. “ ‘Without music, life would be a mistake’. What was that thing Jane Austen said about who we are?”  
  
“‘It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do’,” Nico replied. Will grinned. He’d always liked that quote. It was the reason that he’d first gotten into medicine and healing. If actions defined a person, Will wanted his actions to be as beneficial to others as possible. “Remind me what da Vinci said about understanding and pleasure?”  
  
“That ‘the noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding’,” Will said. Nico always used that quote when they were playing the Quote Game. Every time without fail. Will had even got Nico a framed picture of the quote for Christmas the year before, and Will loved that Nico had hung it up beside his bed. “What was that Camus quote about rebellion?”  
  
“‘I rebel; therefore I exist’. Bernard M. Baruch and listening?”  
  
“‘Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking’. What was that quote about saying and doing things you’re afraid to do?”  
  
“‘Maybe there’s something you’re afraid to say, or someone you’re afraid to love, or somewhere you’re afraid to go. It’s gonna hurt. It’s gonna hurt because it matters.’ It’s a quote by John Green from Will Grayson, Will Grayson.”  
  
Nico said nothing else, looking like he was thinking something over, and when the song ended a few moments later, Will found himself feeling disappointed that Nico pulled away. “That was nice. Thanks, Nico.”  
  
“No problem, Solace,” Nico said, not meeting Will’s eyes. He looked… conflicted. ‘Oh no.’ Will groaned internally. ‘Did I just fuck this up again? Is he gonna stop talking to me again?’  
  
Nico started walking back towards the rec room. “Move it, Solace. The party’s gonna be over soon, and we’re getting a ride with the newlyweds, Grover, and Percy.”  
  
That was something Will had almost forgotten about. He was staying over at the Jackson’s that night. It was already midnight, and he didn’t want to disturb his siblings or Argus to get a ride. He was really lucky that Sally had offered her apartment for Will to spend the night at, and if he got to hang out with Nico for longer, we’ll, who was Will to complain. Will grinned and picked up his lemonade before chasing Nico back into the rec room, which had been clearing out for the past twenty minutes.  
  
“Hey, guys,” Grover said cheerfully as they walked over to help Percy and Annabeth pack the food away. “How was your dance?”  
  
“Really nice,” Will said with a grin. He could still kind of feel how close Nico was to him— he had been able to smell Nico’s shampoo (cloves and cedar. It shouldn’t have smelt good as a shampoo, but it was somehow so Nico that Will loved it).  
  
“Yeah? What did you think of it, Nico?” Percy asked, elbowing his brother.  
  
Nico shrugged noncommittally, but Will could tell that he had a very strong opinion on it, but was trying to hide it. Was it that bad? ‘Or maybe it was that good…’ the rebellious part of Will’s brain added. Will told it to shut up— he didn’t want his hopes running too high. It would just hurt all the more when they crashed.  
  
“Use your words, di Angelo,” Percy joked. Nico huffed and glared at Percy without any real heat in his gaze.  
  
“It was… fine.” Nico said, clearly done talking about it. Will distracted himself with packing up the food for Sally and Paul.  
  
“That’s all?” Percy pressed. Will could practically feel the annoyance and confusion and stubbornness radiating off of Nico.  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“So, Grover,” Will interjected, happy to change the subject. “When are you going back out to talk to the other satyrs and nymphs?”  
  
Ever since Pan died, Grover had been trying to rally the nature spirits to keep Pan’s message and to get them to help fight against Kronos and the rest of the Titans. “Tomorrow, but I wish I was leaving in a few days. I wanted to spend some more time with Percy and Juniper.”  
  
“Dude, you’ve been in New York for two weeks,” Percy laughed. “How much more quality time do you need?”  
  
“Fair point,” Grover conceded as Will finished closing the lid of the last container, and the few other people who had stayed had taken down all the decorations they wanted to keep.  
  
“Let’s go, kids,” Sally said, walking towards them in her wedding dress. She really looked beautiful, there was no way around it. Paul stood next to her, smiling at her as if she was the only person on earth. They were really in love, and Will thought it was adorable. “We can leave all this stuff here, the cleaning crew said they’d put it all in the fridge for us to pick up tomorrow before we leave for the honeymoon.”  
  
They all nodded and followed the newlyweds to their van, all climbing over each other to get into the seats. Will and Nico ended up in the back row, behind Percy and Grover.  
  
“Thank you so much for inviting me, Sally,” Will said.  
  
“No problem, dear,” Sally laughed as they drove out of the parking lot. “We’ve heard all about you from Nico, and you were so sweet at the party, and we were really excited to have you coming.”  
  
“You have, huh?” Will asked, looking at the Italian from the corner of his eye. Did Nico tell his family about Will?  
  
“Not as much as we hear about Annabeth, but then again, Percy’s at home all the time, while Nico spends time in the Underworld,” Paul said happily. It was nice how easily he had adjusted to the knowledge of the gods and their bullshit. He reacted better than some demigods he knew (himself included). 

  
  
  
  


The rest of the drive was fairly silent, everyone tired and thinking about their own things. Will was pretty sure Nico had fallen asleep at one point, but he didn’t check. Gods know Nico needed all the sleep he could get. When they arrived at the apartment complex, they lazily hopped out of the car, Will grabbing his bag from the trunk.  
  
The Jackson-Blofis residence was on the seventh floor, which was far too high if you asked Will. Way too many stairs to climb. But thankfully, the elevator was working, so they hopped in. Apparently, Sally had taken off her shoes at one point, as the heels were now in her hand.  
  
After a twenty minute elevator ride (because apparently this one was fifty years old), they walked towards the apartment. Well, Will more followed everyone else (he’d been there before, for Nico’s birthday, but that was a couple months ago), but it was nice that Nico hung back with him as they walked.  
  
There were more photos on the walls than Will remembered. There were some of Percy, Annabeth and Grover, some were Percy and Tyson, a few were Nico and Percy out for ice cream or at a cafe, a few of the boys at Camp Half-Blood or at birthday parties. But Will’s favourite photo was one of the two of them at Nico’s birthday party. Will had his arm thrown around Nico’s shoulder, both of them with a slice of cake, and Nico looked so happy it was contagious, and Will realized that he was smiling as he looked at it.  
  
He couldn’t see the rest of the apartment through the hallway, but Will didn’t think it really mattered. He would see it soon enough.  
  
“Okay,” Paul said, “Grover, Percy, you two know where to go. Nico, show Will to your room. If you need anything, me and Sally will be in our room all night. Have a good sleep, kiddos.”  
  
“Thanks, Mr. Blofis,” Nico said. “Have a good night. And congratulations, again.”  
  
“Thanks, sweetie,” Sally said, squeezing Nico’s shoulder, “but you can call me Sally, alright? Or mom. You’re practically my son, already.”  
  
Nico looked down, most likely in embarrassment and shrugged. “Sorry, Ms. Jackson.”  
  
“Well, you can’t say he isn’t consistent,” Percy laughed, and Will laughed. The son of Poseidon had a point.  
  
“Alright, beds,” Sally said, ushering all of them towards the hallway.  
  
“You have a lovely home,” Will said as they left the living room. “I forgot to say that last time I was here, I’m sorry.”  
  
“Thank you, Will,” Sally said sweetly. “Me and Percy moved in here with Paul last October, and we try to make sure Nico comes over all the time, but it’s hard to get him to listen.”  
  
“Yeah, I know,” Will laughed. Nico was without a doubt the most stubborn person ever.  
  
“Well, you're staying in this room here, Will,” Paul said, gesturing to a door on the right. “The bathroom’s just two doors down. If you need anything, you can bug Nico, Percy, Grover, or us. Have a good night, alright?”  
  
Will and Nico said their good nights before ducking into the room Paul had gestured to. The walls were painted olive green, instead of the lime colour of the rest of the apartment (that Will had seen, anyways), but it had the same dark wood floors. There was an air mattress beside the twin-sized bed, both of which had grey blankets and green sheets. There was a beautiful wooden desk in the corner that matched the floor, dresser, bookshelf and the bed frame. He was happy to see that the needlepoint quotes were still up on his wall, and he was sure that Lou Ellen and Cecil would appreciate that the lava lamp was on Nico’s desk.  
  
The most shocking thing was all of the books. The last time he’d been in the room, Will hadn’t been paying that much attention (he was more focussed on Nico and the embroideries between his bed and the window), but he genuinely didn’t know how he’d missed all of the books. Will knew that Nico read a lot, but the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf was completely covered so that Will couldn’t even see most of the shelves. On top of that, there were books piled around the room in little stacks. On the desk, on the dresser, on the floor, everywhere.  
  
“Wow,” Will said, gesturing to the shelves. “You really read a lot.”  
  
“Yeah,” Nico laughed. “Mr. Blofis gives me old books from his school’s English department, and Annabeth gives me books from the Athena cabin and from her dad’s university. Plus all of the books I get for my birthday and holidays, and from the library. Did you know that they get rid of old books once a month? Plus, some old books from Westover Hall and the Lotus.”  
  
“Have you read them all?”  
  
“Most of them,” Nico said. “I’ve been working on getting through them all, you know?”  
  
“That’s really cool,” Will said. “So where do you want to get changed? I’ll go to the bathroom, I guess?”  
  
“Yeah, sounds good,” Nico said.  
  
Will nodded and walked two doors down, like Paul said, and sure enough, there was the bathroom. Will quickly changed and folded his suit neatly in his duffel bag, hoping it didn’t get wrecked. The blond also hoped that Nico didn’t mind him wearing his boxers to bed. He ended up throwing on a tank top too, just to be safe. He brushed his teeth, and was just rinsing his mouth when there was a knock on the door.  
  
“Yeah?” He called.  
  
“We need to brush our teeth and wash our faces,” Percy called back. “You decent?”  
  
“Oh, yeah,” Will said, unlocking and opening the door. Percy, Grover, and Nico were wearing their pyjamas, and Grover had a toothbrush and washcloth in his hands. Will tried hard not to stare at Nico, but his shirt was a little small and showed off his abs, and he looked super comfy in his flannel pants. “Come on in, Sorry about that.”  
  
“It’s fine,” Nico said, not looking right at Will. It was something he did when he was thinking hard about something, and didn’t want you to know. He would look slightly to your left, instead of directly at you. It took Will a while to figure it out, but now it was super easy to tell when Nico was thinking.  
  
The three other boys came in and brushed their teeth. Shockingly, Percy put on a mud mask and hair curlers. Grover shined his barely-there horns, and combed his hair. Nico scrubbed his face with cheap soap, brushed his teeth, and washed his hands, and that was it. He wondered how Nico didn’t break out.  
  
“Alright, see you guys in the morning,” Nico said, walking out of the bathroom. Will was still washing his face. He had a ten step routine (his skin broke out worse than normal if he didn’t do it properly).  
  
“See ya,” Will said as he grabbed his bag and headed back into Nico’s room, where the son of Hades was laying down on the air mattress. Will shook his head.  
  
“No, di Angelo. I’m not taking your bed, I’ll sleep on the air mattress, okay?”  
  
“No, you’re the guest. You take the bed.”  
  
“Come on, Nic,” Will whined.  
  
“I’m not moving,” Nico said stubbornly.  
  
“I will pick you up. You’re like half my size.”  
  
“Just take the bed, Will,” Nico mumbled, burying himself further in his blankets. Will groaned. Nico wasn’t going to move, and if Will did pick him up, Nico would sleep on the floor anyways, or he would jump back on the air mattress, with or without Will there. He was stubborn that way, and Will didn’t think he could handle the idea of sleeping in the same bed as Nico, and not being able to cuddle with him. Or worse— Nico cuddling with him while he was asleep, and knowing that it didn’t mean anything, and that Nico didn’t think of Will like that.  
  
“Fine.” Will set his bag down on the floor and climbed onto Nico’s bed, sprawling out like a starfish. He had to admit, the bed was super comfortable. Why Nico gave it up was beyond him, but Will didn’t really care. It was soft and warm. And it was his crush’s bed. Nico slept where Will was sleeping on a regular basis, and the pillows smelt like his shampoo. He silently shoved his face further into the pillows before calling back down to Nico, knowing his voice would be muffled by the pillow. “But I’m making breakfast.”  
  
Nico didn’t answer. ‘Maybe he’s already asleep,” Will thought as he shut his eyes. It wouldn’t be too shocking— Nico practically lived to sleep. If Will didn’t know better, he would say that Nico was a Hypnos child, and not a Hades one. But Will did know better, and he had seen Nico summon skeletons and ghosts, so he was pretty sure he knew which god Nico was descended from.  
  
As Will drifted into the land of sleep, he thought about Nico, which wasn’t unusual. He thought of Nico’s hair, and his smile, and his voice— gods, Nico’s voice. It didn’t have as strong of an accent as it did when they first met and it sounded like a hodgepodge of thirty different accents, but the accent was still there. A lot of campers had accents (from speaking Greek almost 24/7 for at least two months of the year), but Nico’s was by far Will’s favourite. Even without the accent, Nico’s voice was beautiful. It was soft, but it commanded attention and it showed everything he was feeling. Nico had an amazing poker face, but his voice gave almost everything away. Maybe it was just because Will knew him so well, but the son of Apollo didn’t particularly care. His voice was amazing, and Will would never get tired of hearing it.  
  
He was glad that Nico had invited him to the wedding. It was a really fun night— even without dancing in front of everyone. He had a great time, and he thought Nico did too. Whether Nico would admit it or not was the bigger question. Nico usually had an issue with admitting his feelings, but Will didn’t really care. He knew that Nico would eventually tell Will. And maybe when he did, he would finally tell Will what had happened to make him avoid Will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time, no see! So sorry for the late update, lol  
> Okay, so the idea that Mr D can switch up which hormones are being created in someone is something I’m going to explore some more, cause I thought of it, and now I can’t get it out of my head? He‘s the god of trans people, so I feel like he should be able to do that or something?  
> I also love the whole Quote Game, and this will not be the last time it is seen!  
> Will’s love for Nico’s voice is going to lead to some angst in Heroes of Olympus, so stay tuned for that, my friends!  
> Also, the Child of Hypnos thing with Nico will be back in the future, lots of foreshadowing in this chapter, lol  
> Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter, cause it was a lot of fun to write. I really enjoyed writing Percy and Grover being supportive brothers and trying to push Nico to dance with Will  
> Also, I know in canon Percy doesn’t really care about his appearance, but I like the idea that he puts curlers in his hair  
> I also really like the found family trope, if you couldn’t tell by me giving Nico a bunch of adoptive brothers and adoptive parents and that  
> As always, comments and kudos are loved and appreciated!


	11. Not This Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, HUGE TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS WHOLE CHAPTER  
> The whole chapter is about Will having a really, really horrible panic attack. Please do not read this if you think it could trigger you. It was hard for me to write this, and then it was hard for me to edit and look over it. Will’s internal dialogue is based off of real thoughts I have had through panic attacks. The panic attack is pure projection off of my grade-eight self, when I was in the midst of the worst of my anxiety and depression  
> There will be a summary at the end of this chapter touching on all the important plot points of the chapter. That is all, you have been warned

Nico did not tell Will why he had ignored him for two weeks. He didn’t tell Will anything. Not for two months. Two. Fucking. Months.  
  
At first, Will was scared that something had happened to Nico, but no. The son of Hades was still speaking to Austin, and Kayla, and Cecil, and Lou Ellen, and Percy, and Connor, and Travis. But to his self-proclaimed best friend? No. He didn’t need to talk to Will because, according to Austin, Nico was ‘figuring things out’. Again. What things were there to figure out? And why did ‘figuring things out’ mean that he couldn’t talk to Will?  
  
This wasn’t just a couple weeks of avoiding Will. They hadn’t spoken in two months, and Will had no clue why. Nico avoided his Iris Messages, didn’t come to camp when he was supposed to, left his apartment if Will showed up to say hi. Who fucking did that?  
  
For the first month, Will cried himself to sleep on the rare occasion he actually went to bed. He really hated not being around Nico, especially when he didn’t know why he wasn’t around Nico. After a month and a half, Will stopped trying to reach out. He stopped trying to get Nico to tell him what was going on, to figure out how to help. He stopped trying with Nico. If he didn’t want Will to be a part of his life, then Will would back off. After all, how can you be friends with someone who avoids everything that looks like you for months?  
  
It was crushing Will, to say the least. He had retreated to the infirmary almost full-time, he rarely went to meals, and he slept even less. He snapped at his friends, and glared if they tried to ask what was wrong, or tried to help. A couple of the Hypnos kids brought him ice cream, and the Ares kids brought him hoodies and blankets. Slowly, however, they stopped showing up at the infirmary, and only shot him pitying looks on the rare occasion that he left. Thanks to Nico di fucking Angelo, he had lost all of his friends. Not that he blamed them, though. He didn’t want to be around himself, either.  
  
His siblings didn’t leave him alone, though, and Will tried to be kind to them all, and to his patients. Will knew that everyone at camp knew something was wrong, but no one asked about it. He figured Austin and Kayla had warned everyone about Will’s foul mood.  
  
‘Fucking Nico,’ Will thought angrily as he scrubbed out a bed pan. ‘He abandons me, and I’m the one that suffers? What is wrong with the fates. Fuck them, and fuck him.’  
  
But Will didn’t mean that. Yes, fuck the fates, they were horrible. But Will still loved Nico, and if they ever spoke again, Will would hate himself for thinking anything bad about him.  
  
That was the worst part. He still loved the son of Hades. The fates seriously had a sick sense of humour, and Will swore he would punch them if given the chance.  
  
Will missed him like crazy, and he knew if Nico showed up, he would forgive him in a heartbeat, just so he could see Nico again. So they could go back out on their outings, and so that he could have help around the infirmary. Just so he could talk to Nico, play the Quote Game, and skip rocks, and laugh and be idiots together.  
  
But he didn’t want to forgive Nico. He wanted to be angry. Hades, he deserved to be angry. First Nico avoids him for almost three weeks. Then he makes Will think they’re okay, and invites him to his mom's wedding, and buys him a suit, and dances with him, and lets Will sleep in his bed. And then the bastard refuses to talk to him for two months!  
  
“Will! Oh my gods, Will, are you okay?” Austin called. Will looked up, confused. Why wouldn’t he be okay? Outside of the fact that his life had turned upside down over the last two months thanks to some emo gremlin with too-long hair that Will was in love with.  
  
Will tried to answer, but he couldn’t. His hands were in his hair, when did they get there? Why couldn’t he pull them out? He was going to rip his hair out if he didn’t move his hands, but he couldn’t. Why was his little brother taller than him? ‘I’m on the floor,’ he realized. When had he sat down? Austin moved over to Will and started wiping the tears off his cheeks. That’s odd, when did he start crying?  
  
“Will, it’s alright, stay here, I’m going to go get help, alright?” Austin said, panic in his eyes.  
  
When he moved away, Will tried to yell for him to stay, someone to stay, he couldn’t be left alone, not again, it was too much, everything was too much. But the only noise that came out was a strangled cry, and then Will was sobbing and retching. It was not longer the quiet, dignified crying that he hadn’t even realized was happening. He was in hysterics.  
  
His hands moved from their death grip on his hair, and started to scratch up and down his arms. They were going to bleed, they would hurt very soon. But Will didn’t care.  
  
He was trying not to puke, he didn’t have anything to puke up, he hadn’t eaten in days. He was he gagging, what the fuck was happening? His panic attacks weren’t normally this bad. Is that what was happening? A panic attack? Yes, it was a panic attack in the infirmary.  
  
His arms were stinging. Will didn’t care— there were bugs in there. Bugs, snakes, oil, and tar. Crawling around under his skin, poisoning him and his thoughts. Making him a bad person, making people hate him. Pushing away his friends, and his Nico, and his mom, and his cousins, and his aunts, and his uncles. The tar and oil sloshed through his veins instead of blood, making him slow and sluggish, so he couldn’t move fast enough to save anyone. He wasn’t human. He was a monster.  
  
He was an imposter. He wasn’t a hero, he wasn’t a healer. He couldn’t fix anything, make anyone better. He made things worse. He wasn’t a real guy, he was trans. Maybe that’s why Nico left.  
  
‘But Nico’s trans, too,’ a voice reminded him. ‘And he’s a real guy.’  
  
Was Will just faking it, though? Was Will just telling everyone he was a boy, even though he’s a girl? Was he wrong, or attention hogging, or delusional?  
  
The pastor in his old town said he was possessed by a demon. He said the exorcisms hadn’t worked since Will still called himself a boy. Was that why Nico hated him? Could the son of Hades feel the darkness in Will, the presence of evil? He spent so much time around things of the Underworld, there was no way he wouldn’t be able to tell if it was in Will, right? Was the demon why he had bugs in his skin?  
  
Was that why his hair felt like it was made of springs that were digging into his scalp and giving tetanus to his brain? Was that why he felt rusted? His papa told him that one rusty nail could ruin you. One rusty nail, one faulty cog could bring down the entire project, it could ruin everything. Was Will a rusty nail? So overused and overworked and old that he was going to be thrown away due to a build up of corrosion and poison? Was that why people threw him away? Was he a rusted nail, that was thrown away because it had no further use? Too corroded and old and useless to be kept around, for it would break or ruin your entire project. Was that what he was?  
  
Will couldn’t breathe.  
  
“I’m a rusted nail!” Will yelled, his voice strangled and tense, the words sounding muffled to Will’s ears. Was that just how the world was now? Muffled and distant?  
  
“Some people like the vintage aesthetic, like rusted nails. It’s not a bad thing,” a voice said. It was familiar— was it a friend? No, it was Kayla’s, that’s right. When did Kayla show up? Did she come to witness the downfall of Will Solace, too? How many people were there? Will couldn’t see. He couldn’t breathe.  
  
Was he still in the infirmary? What happened to the bedpan he was cleaning? Did Will break it? Did Will get the room messy, making a disaster of the area?  
  
How many people were there? Will heard voices, but they sounded like they were underwater. Muffled and distant, not really real. So far away that they come out garbled and warped to the extent that they don’t even form words anymore. How does Will ask for help? How can he get through this if he doesn’t even know if he can speak anymore? He’s a nail. A rusty, rotted nail that needed to be thrown away.  
  
Hands grabbed Will’s, urging them to stop scratching. Who was grabbing him? The hands were too warm to be Death’s. Right? They could have been his mama’s. He missed his mom. She always knew what to do.  
  
He couldn’t see a face, but Will heard Michael’s voice. It wasn’t his mom, but it was his brother. His awesome brother. Will didn’t deserve a brother like Michael, one who was always there for him, and helped him out, and hugged him through his bullshit. Will was a rusted nail. Michael was a shiny new bolt. “Will, buddy, you’re freaking us out. It’s okay, everything’s okay, alright. Just relax. It’s just a panic attack, you’re gonna get through this.”  
  
Will pushed Michael away—his skin was crawling, as if bugs and beetles were between his skin and muscles, he needed to scratch his arms to get them out, what didn’t Michael get about that? There was no way this was a panic attack. Will was dying— the bugs and snakes and tar and oil were suffocating him. The corrosion and rust were getting to him. His brain was being corroded, soon all that would be left was a small mound of grey matter, holding nothing more than one word: USELESS.  
  
He ignored the thud he heard. If Michael fell, that was because he was trying to let the bigs stay in Will’s skin, right? No, it was because Will was a bastard, a murderer, a criminal, who claimed to be useful, who claimed to be a hero. He was a liar, wasn’t he? He wasn’t good. He was a monster made of tar, oil, snakes, bugs, and rust. He was going to corrode everyone around him. He should leave. They should leave. Will scooted back further, further, further, until he hit a wall. Why was the room so small? He couldn’t breathe.  
  
Will couldn’t breathe, and his skin was crawling, and his eyes were leaking, and his arms were going to bleed, and his scalp was aching, and he was trying not to puke, and he was gagging, and his heart was killing him. He couldn’t do this, why were there so many shoes in front of him? ‘Focus, Will,’ he told himself. There were red vans, and pink high tops, and blue converse, and black combat boots.  
  
That’s funny, Nico had a pair of boots like that. ‘Does he still wear combat boots?’ Will wondered. ‘Or did he ditch them when he ditched me?’  
  
That caused Will to cry harder, to rock back and forth. He couldn’t hear anything, and his vision was blurred from the tears. The walls were closing in, his chest was tight, he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe.  
  
He couldn’t breathe.  
  
Why should he breathe? Why should he be able to? After all, he was just a healer, and not a good one. If he was a good one, Nico would have stayed. He would still talk to Will. And Lee and Pollux would still be alive. Nico wouldn’t have ever left camp.  
  
That was why he stopped talking to Will, wasn’t it? He wasn’t a good healer. He wasn’t a good friend. He was an asshole. He didn’t deserve to breathe. Why was he still trying?  
  
How long had he been crying? How long had he been unable to breathe? How long had it been since Austin left? When did he push Michael? Was Michael okay? Did he give him a concussion? What happened? What was wrong with him? Why did he push his big brother? What was wrong with him? Maybe it would be better if he never got up again, right?  
  
He felt a cool hand rest lightly on his shoulder. Will flinched away, and the hand retracted. Was this the crypt keeper? What did Nico say his name was? Thanos? No, Thanatos. That’s it. It was Thanatos, come to take him to the underworld. That’s what was happening, right? Will was dying, wasn’t he? Was that such a bad thing?  
  
The cool hand returned, this time with another, and they were both on Will’s hands, practically pleading with them to be still. Why should they be still? And why did Death care? Maybe if he was still it would make it easier for Thanatos to pick up his soul. Was that why people went into rigor mortis when they died? So Thanatos could pick up their souls easily?  
  
The hands realized Will’s were not going to stop. They couldn’t. Didn’t Death know he had bugs in his skin? That he needed to claw them out? To claw out the snakes and tar and demons? There was no way he couldn’t sense them. He was a god.  
  
Will still couldn’t see. What did the personification of death look like? Was he pale and sickly? Or was he strong and young? Did he wear a monk's cloak and carry a scythe, or was that too basic and typical? Was he tall or short? Did he have dark hair or light hair? What did Nico say he looked like? He said it was like Markus Zuzak described...  
  
He looked like what was in the mirror, according to The Book Thief. Fucking Nico, he got him to read that big ass book just so he could refuse to talk to him for months? Maybe that was useful for now, though. Will couldn’t see, but he knew the cold hands belonged to Death.  
  
The hands made their way to Will’s cheeks, wiping his tears away, cleaning him up as much as they could. What was going on? Why was Death being kind? If Will didn’t know better, he would say the hands were gentle and caring. But why did Death care for Will? Why did anyone care for Will? He was a monster, a murderer, a criminal. He had rusty springs for hair and bugs in his skin and tar in his veins.  
  
As Will focused on the hands, on what Thanatos was doing, he started to hear a soft voice. It sounded muffled to Will’s ears, but he thought it was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. Was it Nico’s? It was Nico’s! Did Thanatos make his voice into the person you loved the most? ‘That would be a nice way to go,’ Will decided. ‘Listening to Nico’s voice.’ He wished he would be able to hear the real Nico’s voice again, not Thanatos-Nico. But Nico hated him. And why shouldn’t he? Will was a monster, a murderer, a criminal. He had rusty springs for hair and bugs in his skin and tar in his veins.  
  
“—gotta breathe, okay? Deep breaths, Sunshine, alright?”  
  
Why was the Grim Reaper calling him sunshine? Only Nico called him that, but now Nico was gone, Nico didn’t care about him, Nico didn’t want anything to do with him. Death kept talking, and Will tried to listen. Even if it was nothing useful, he sounded like Nico, so could it really be that bad? Nico had a really nice voice.  
  
“I’m right here, Will. You have to relax, alright? Then you can yell at me, and I can apologize, and try to explain myself, which isn’t going to be easy. And then we can go get some coffee, and you can get some peach tea, and then we can play the Quote Game, and skip rocks, and play poker. And then I’ll take you to the movies and we can watch whatever you want, and then I’ll help you cut bandages and ambrosia, and I’ll bring you a sandwich and some chips, and you can yell at me again, because I really deserve it, and I am so, so, so sorry, Will. But none of that can happen unless you calm down, alright? So I need you to breathe, okay? Can you breathe for me?”  
  
Will felt one of the hands move from his cheek to his hair. Why would he yell at Thanatos? And how did he know that Will liked peach tea? And how did Death know about the Quote Game? The only person who knew about that was—  
  
He couldn’t breathe. He could not breathe. Nico was here. It sounded like Nico, and he knew things Nico knew, because he was Nico. His asshole best friend/long-time crush was back, seeing him have a panic attack.  
  
He looked up and saw a blurred picture of Nico’s face. He really was here. It wasn’t a hallucination. Or was it? Did Thanatos just like playing with people before he dragged them to the Underworld? Was it the one way that Death got joy in his sick little life?  
  
“Ni—Nic?” Will managed to say, his voice shaking and coming out muffled and slightly strangled.  
  
“Yeah, Will,” Nico laughed, petting his hair. Was Nico really petting his hair? Or was it really just Thanatos? Will decided he didn’t care, it felt nice, and the cool hands were soothing the stinging of his scalp from when he was pulling at his hair. He was turning the springs back to hair. Was it really Nico? “It’s me. It’s Nico. I’m right here, tesoro. Alright? I’m right here. And I am so, so, so, sorry about the last couple months. I promise that I will explain everything once you relax. Deep breaths. Can you do that for me, Sunshine? In, two three four, out, two, three, four.”  
  
“I… you.. hate me,” Will mumbled, feeling the tears fall harder again.  
  
“Will, I don’t hate you. I will never hate you, alright? You’re my best friend, and I am so, so, sorry for not being here for you the past couple months. But I’m here now, okay? I’m here, and I’ll never, ever leave you again, okay? I swear on the Styx that whenever you need me, I’ll be here for you. Will, can I try to stop your hands?”  
  
Was he still scratching his arms? He didn’t think he was, his skin stopped crawling when Nico started playing with his hair. He nodded numbly, and Nico moved his hands to grasp Will’s. He pulled his arms away from each other, holding Will’s hands in his own.  
  
“It’s okay, alright? Everything is going to be okay,” Nico explained, rubbing circles into the backs of Will’s hands. “We’re going to get your arms cleaned up, and then get you some food, and then you’re going to have a nap, alright? And after that, you’re going to yell at me, because you are well within your right to, and then I’m gonna spend the next six years kissing your ass, as I should, and eventually you’ll forgive me, even though you’re gonna say you forgive me once this is over, and we’re both gonna know that’s a lie because I’m a dick and I’ve been a bigger dick than usual the past few months.”  
  
Will blinked away the last of his tears, and took a few shuddering breaths as the panic attack finished. “Nic—“  
  
“It’s okay, Will.” Nico smiled softly at Will, still holding his hands. “You’re doing great.”  
  
His arms stung; his scalp burned; his chest was still tight, but not as constricting as it was earlier; his back and legs ached, probably because he fell down at the beginning of the panic attack; his head was racing, and pounding; his heart was clenched with anger, and relief, and fury, and love, and terror, and joy, and embarrassment. All in all, Will felt like complete shit. His breathing was ragged, and his cheeks were tight, and his eyes were itchy, and he felt dried snot and tears on his face.  
  
Was he still made of rust and snakes? Where did the bugs go? Was he still a rusty nail? Will decided he didn’t care. Nico was here. That was the important thing.  
  
“Here’s some tissues,” a voice said from past Nico. Will looked up, and sure enough, Austin, Kayla, and Michael were standing nearby, looking worriedly are Will. Michael had his hand outstretched with a box of Kleenex. Will's siblings sat down on the floor, trying to help Will relax more.  
  
Nico let go of one of Will’s hand, taking the box from Michael. “Thanks.”  
  
He grabbed a couple tissues out of the box and wiped the tears and snot off of Will’s face. Will tried to protest, but Nico glared at him, so Will shut up.  
  
Kayla grabbed Will’s hand when he started to scratch his arm again.  
  
“Will, do you… do you wanna talk about it?” Austin asked, from next to Will.  
  
“No,” Will said. His throat felt funny. Dry and sore, making it uncomfortable to speak.  
  
“Do you want some water?” Nico asked.  
  
“Yes, please,” Will mumbled.  
  
“I’ll go grab some,” Kayla said, standing up.  
  
“I’ll grab some nectar and bandages, and we’ll take a look at your arms, alright, buddy?” Michael informed as he walked after Kayla.  
  
Austin looked between Nico and Will, giving Nico a look he couldn’t decipher. “I’m gonna go, cause you two need to talk. I’ll tell Kayla and Michael to go once they’ve dropped the stuff off, alright?”  
  
“Alright,” Nico said before Will could protest. “Thanks for getting me, Austin.”  
  
“No problem. I figured you’d want to know,” Austin said as he stood up and left. He pat Will on the shoulder before leaving the room. Suddenly, Will was aware that Nico was washing his face, and had just been playing with his hair, and wiping tears off his cheeks, and that he was still holding Nico’s hand. He tried to ignore that Nico was still tracing circles into the back of Will’s hand.  
  
“I think that’s as best as we’re gonna get, alright?” Nico said, putting down the tissues. He grabbed Will’s hand again, and continued to draw circles into Will’s hands. “You wanna talk about it?”  
  
Will shook his head. He didn’t want to talk about the panic attack. He didn’t want to talk about Nico leaving for two months. He just wanted to focus on the fact that Nico was back, and sitting with him.  
  
“Here you go,” Michael said, setting the water bottle, bandages, and ambrosia down on the floor. “We’ll just be in the Apollo cabin, if you guys need anything.”  
  
He walked out before either of the boys on the floor could say anything. Will looked at Nico, and he knew they had to have this conversation. He didn’t want to talk about it, but it would just be easier to get it over with. He took a swig of water and then spoke. “Why’d you do it?”  
  
“Because I’m an idiot?” Nico said, and Will glared expectantly. Nico sighed. “Because I realized just how much I like you, and it scared me.”  
  
“You like me?” Will asked. Until a few minutes? hours? weeks? seconds? ago, Will had thought that Nico hated him, and now he finds out that Nico likes him? It had been a really, really long day.  
  
“Of course I do,” Nico said, a determined look on his face. “You’re sweet, and funny, and smart, and you’re easy to talk to and be around. You’ve never looked at me weirdly because I’m a son of Hades, and you listen to me, and you let me just stay quiet, and don’t push me into saying things or contributing to conversations when I don’t want to. And you’re warm, and you make me feel… good. Like I belong. Which I don’t feel like often, with the whole hotel and immigrant and gay things. But you make me feel like I’m a normal person, and like I’m not a crazy gremlin, y’know? And you’re so, so beautiful, Will, did you know that? I love your freckles, and your hair is so curly and bouncy, and I really like your eyes. They’re like the sky, and they’re so, so, so pretty. You’re literally Adonis, inside and out, Will.”  
  
Will didn’t know what to say. Nico didn’t hate him, and thought he was attractive? He had called him an Adonis. Was he just saying that to be nice? Did Nico really like him, or was he just being friendly? He was probably being friendly. That’s just Nico— a sweetheart.  
  
Will couldn’t find it in himself to grin so soon after a panic attack, but he squeezed Nico’s hand instead. “I like you too, Nico. And you’re really cute, too, did you know that?”  
  
Nico blushed, and looked down at their entwined hands. “We should get your arms cleaned up. They look worse than they were before.”  
  
Will looked down, and sure enough, his arms were red, slightly swollen, and bleeding in a couple spots. “Oh, geez. Pass me the nectar and cloth, would you?”  
  
“No,” Nico said firmly. He grabbed the nectar and washcloth himself, and dabbed some of the godly drink onto the cloth. He gingerly lifted up Will’s arm. “I’m gonna take care of you, sunshine. You take care of so many people, you should know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of help.”  
  
“But I don’t help—“  
  
“Oh shut it, Will. You help everyone. If it weren’t for you, I would probably be cutting myself off from everyone and hating myself even more than I do right now. So just sit back and relax, I’m gonna take care of you, alright?”  
  
Will didn’t know what to say, so he just sat there as Nico cleaned his arms and wrapped them up in bandages. Will tried not to blush as Nico carefully washed and dressed his abused forearms. ‘He would make a good nurse,’ Will thought. Instead of saying that, he asked something that had been on his mind for a little while. “Is Michael okay?”  
  
“What? Yeah, why wouldn’t he be?”  
  
“I pushed him, and then I heard a thud, I thought he might have hit his head or something.”  
  
“No, he’s fine. The thud was probably the door. I may have slammed it on my way in here.”  
  
“Oh,” Will said with relief. Michael wasn’t hurt. He was fine. “Why were you here, again?”  
  
Nico blushed again. “Austin IMed me to let me know that you were having a panic attack, and I came over to make sure you were okay.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Of course,” Nico said earnestly. “Will, didn’t I just tell you? I love you, and I’m not gonna leave you to suffer.”  
  
That was the first time Nico had said ‘I love you’ to Will. The son of Apollo told him all the time, at the end of most of their IM’s, really. But Nico had never said it back. Will felt himself glow with pride and joy. “I love you too, di Angelo.”  
  
Nico smiled as he pinned the final bandage in place. “There you are,” Nico placed a kiss on both of Will’s palms, and Will blushed his ass off. Two months no talking, and now Nico was kissing his hands? He would never understand Nico, or how friendships worked in Italy. “Now why don’t we go get some food? Austin said you haven’t been eating properly?”  
  
“Okay,” Will said. “But I don’t think I can stand up right now, and I don’t really want to face a bunch of people.”  
  
“Why don’t you have a nap then?”  
  
“Could you help me to a cot?”  
  
Nico practically carried Will to the nearest cot. Suddenly, Will was grateful the infirmary had been empty that day. Nico laid Will down on the bed and covered him with a blanket.  
  
“Can you stay with me?” Will asked. He hated how needy and small he sounded, but Nico was his best friend, and he just got him back. He couldn’t be alone.  
  
“I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.” Nico pulled a chair up next to the cot and brushed his fingers through Will’s hair.  
  
“I’m still mad at you, you know,” Will said, though he wasn’t so sure if that was true anymore. He leant into Nico’s touch as Nico started to braid Will’s hair.  
  
“I know. I’m still pretty mad at me, too,” Nico confessed. “I shouldn’t have left. I was an idiot. When you wake up, please yell at me. I deserve it.”  
  
“Thanks, Nic.”  
  
“And Will?”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“I meant what I said. I love you, and I think you’re seriously gorgeous, inside and out. I really, really love you, Will. And I avoided you cause I didn’t know how to react, and it scared me. I’m really sorry, Solace, I’m a coward, and my feelings terrify me, but I’m not… I’m not scared anymore. And I really love you.”  
  
Will smiled as Nico finished the braid. There wasn’t a lot of hair to braid, in all fairness. Nico moved one hand to grab Will’s, and the other to rest on Will’s shoulder.  
  
“I love you too, Nico.”  
  
Will mumbled as he shut his eyes. The panic attack took a lot out of him. When he woke up again, he would yell at Nico about leaving, and then ask him if he thought Will was a rusty nail. Until then, he would just relax and fall back to sleep.  
  
Just as he was about to fall asleep, he felt a cool pair of lips on his forehead. He reopened his eyes, and Nico was just pulling away from him. Will smiled softly before shutting his eyes again. Nico was tracing patterns into his shoulder and hand. Will couldn’t have been happier.  
  
“Goodnight, Will.”  
  
“Goodnight, Nic.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary::  
> After the wedding, Nico avoids Will again and refuses to speak him. He avoids his IM’s, and Will doesn’t know why. This goes on for two months, and ends when Will has a huge panic attack. Nico shows up and manages to bring Will down from the panic attack, and tries to explain himself by telling Will that he loves him and that he avoided him because he didn’t know how to react to how much he cared about Will. Nico calls him beautiful, and points out everything he loves about Will. He then helps Will clean himself up and takes him into the main part of the infirmary to have a nap. Nico sits next to him and braids Will’s hair, and apologizes again. The chapter ends with Nico kissing Will’s forehead as they fall asleep  
> So, onto the notes::  
> Yes, Nico did just tell Will he has a crush on him (that he’s in love with Will). No, Will does not realize this. Chaos will ensue, as Nico believes they are dating and Will doesn’t know this (more on this later on. A lot from Nico’s PoV, and a little from Will’s PoV)  
> Next chapter will be talking things through from this chapter. If there’s anything they talk about that was touched on in this chapter, but not mentioned in the summary (like Will’s internal ramblings during the panic attack)  
> Also, this will come up a couple times in this series (from both POV’s because of dysphoria and imposter syndrome), but no matter what this fic says, in internal dialogue or things people say in this fic, YOU ARE VALID. It will come up again, but I promise that it’s just dysphoria and imposter syndrome (it’s based off my experience as a trans nonbinary person), but no matter what the characters start thinking, never forget you are valid. If you are a transguy, YOU ARE A REAL GUY, and if you are a transgirl, YOU ARE A REAL GIRL, and if you are nonbinary, YOU ARE VALID YOU FERAL GREMLIN


	12. Talking Things Out

Will woke up to the feeling of cool hands tracing patterns onto the back of his hand and playing with his hair. The coolness felt familiar. ‘The hands from the panic attack… Nico.’ Will thought peacefully, leaning into the hand in his hair slightly. Nico was rubbing light circles into Will’s scalp, which Will was happy to admit felt amazing.  
  
“I know you’re up, Sunshine,” Nico said after a few minutes of silence. Will could practically feel Nico’s grin. He slowly opened one eye and glanced at the son of Hades, who was still sitting in the chair beside the cot that Will fell asleep in.  
  
“How’d you know?” Will's voice was thick with sleep, and he watched Nico’s grin widen when he spoke.  
  
“You aren’t snoring anymore,” Nico chuckled. “It’s kind of a big tell.”  
  
“I snore?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“How long was I out?”  
  
“About 5 hours.”  
  
“Oh,” Will said, realizing that Nico had still kept on playing with his hair and hand, even though he knew that Will was awake. Had Nico really sat there with Will for five hours, even though he was unconscious? Why would he do that? “Why didn’t you tell me you knew earlier?”  
  
“Why did you pretend to sleep?”  
  
“I asked you first,” Will said, not wanting to tell Nico the answer to the question. He still wanted to maintain the facade of being mad at Nico, but if he admitted that he liked Nico playing with his hair, and holding his hand, he would lose the upper hand. And he might scare Nico off again, which would screw everything over.  
  
“Cause you’re cute when you sleep,” Nico told him, and Will felt himself blush. ‘He’s just joking. He’s a friend, and he’s kissing your ass because he didn’t speak to you for two months, and then walked in on you having the biggest panic attack of your life,’ Will told himself, “and it’s adorable that you leaned into my hand, and as I said earlier, I love you, and wanted you to be able to get some sleep, even if it was fake.”  
  
“Shut up, di Angelo,” Will said. He knew his blush had increased tenfold. ‘He’s just a friend. You say you love him all the time,’ Will thought. ‘Of course, you mean it differently, but that’s just it. It’s different.’  
  
“No,” Nico said, moving his hand to entwine their fingers. “Will, I owe you big time for being such a dick, so I’m gonna tell you all about how amazing I think you are.”  
  
“You really don’t have to—“  
  
“I do, Willoughby. I really, really do. You are so smart, and you put all the effort you can into helping other people, which I think is amazing. You’re always looking out for other people, and you still haven’t yelled at me for being an ass, even though you should have done that a while ago, and you’ve got a great sense of humour and an amazing repertoire of random knowledge, which is amazing. Plus you’ve got the most beautiful eyes ever, and your hair is so cute and bouncy and fun to play with, and your freckles are super cute, and did you know how tall you are? It’s crazy to me. I mean, you’re like a fucking tree, it’s amazing. You are the best person I have ever met, and I will always be there for you from now on.”  
  
“Nico, you really didn’t have to say anything, okay? I’m still mad, but more because I’m confused than anything else, alright? And I don’t care if you don’t say any of that stuff,” Will told him. It would probably be better for Will’s heart and his sanity if Nico stopped calling him beautiful and smart and saying he loved Will. “I just want you to be here for me, alright? Nic, you’re my best friend. I can’t have you ghosting me again. Ever, alright?”  
  
“I can guarantee that whenever you need me, I will be here for you, and I’ll never run from you again, alright?” Nico said, squeezing Will’s hand. “I mean, I swore it on the Styx earlier, so now you can be sure of it, right?”  
  
Will froze. He had genuinely thought he’d imagined Nico’s oath. Why had Nico made an unbreakable vow to be there for Will? He had thought Nico was smart. Hell, he knew Nico was smart. So why would he do that? It was a pretty stupid thing to do. “Tell me you didn’t do that.”  
  
“What?” Nico asked.  
  
“Tell me you didn’t make a vow on the River Styx. Tell me you didn’t do one of the riskiest things in the world because I had one little panic attack.” Will knew he was practically begging, and he felt a little bad as Nico visibly deflated.  
  
“I— First of all, it wasn’t a ‘little’ panic attack. You seemed to be in serious pain. And secondly, if you want me to go, Will, I can. I get it. But whenever you need me, or just don’t want to be alone, IM me, and I’ll be here right away, okay?” Nico said. Will’s head was still fuzzy, so he blamed his delayed reaction on that. “I’m sorry if you don’t want me around anymore—“  
  
“No! No, I want you around, Nic,” Will said, squeezing Nico’s hand. “I’ll always want you around. I’m just worried about you. What happens when I want to see you, but you’re in the middle of a fight or something? What am I supposed to do then? What’s going to happen to you?”  
  
“I shadow travel here right away,” Nico explained. “Screw the fight. You’re more important than anything else in the world.”  
  
“Nic—“  
  
“Will, please,” Nico said, practically begging. “Please don’t stress about this. I promise, it’ll all be fine. Now, do you want to talk about… the attack? Or the Two Months of Torture?”  
  
“Two Months of Torture?” Will scoffed mockingly. Of course Nico already had a name for it.  
  
“Patent pending,” Nico replied with a small smile, causing Will to snort.  
  
“Alright,” Will said. “I have one question. Why did you do it? And if it was so torturous to you, why didn’t you just come back?”  
  
“That’s two questions,” Nico muttered. Why was he deflecting?  
  
“It’s a two parter,” Will said sharply.  
  
“I realized just how much I like you, or love you, if we’re being accurate, and it terrified me,” Nico said, averting his gaze from Will’s. “I am so sorry, Willoughby. I thought that if I avoided you, then my feelings would, I dunno, go away or something. I didn’t come back at first cause I kept telling myself the feelings would go away, and then the longer I stayed the way, the worse it would be when I came back, and I was scared out of my mind. I’m so sorry, Sunshine. I really wish that I could take back the last two months. But since I can’t, all I can do is promise to do better in the future. That’s why I made the vow, if you’re wondering.”  
  
“So you made me feel like I did something wrong, like there was something wrong with me, because you like me?” Will said, anger stirring up in his chest. He didn’t want to be mad at Nico, but he couldn’t help it. What kind of person did something like that? “Do you know how horrible I felt? I’ve barely left the infirmary for the past month and a half! I haven’t eaten in two days, and I haven’t showered in a week! Nico, what the hell is wrong with you?!”  
  
Nico sank further into his chair, and looked down at the floor. “I’m sorry, Will. I really fucked up, and I’m so sorry I wrecked your life for the last couple months.”  
  
“Nico, you demolished it! My other friends stopped speaking to me because I’ve been so miserable!” Will sat up so he could move as far away from Nico as possible without getting up. He wrenched his hand away from Nico’s. “And your excuse is that you were scared of your feelings? Nico, I love you, and I have never once been scared to talk to you! I love you more than I thought was possible!”  
  
“Will, I know, I’m an idiot. And I’m so sorry about everything I did, and about making you feel bad and hurting you like I did.” Nico reached out to grab Will’s hand or give him a hug, but Will held up a hand to stop him. Nico looked crestfallen. He had no right to make Will feel bad— he’d ruined Will’s life for the past two months. He deserved to be yelled at a little. Nico took a deep breath before continuing. “I get that you’re upset, and if I were you, I would be even more upset. I just want to make this right, Will. What can I do? Is there anything I can do to fix this?”  
  
Will glared at his best friend. “You can go get me some food, because I’m fucking starving.”  
  
Nico grabbed something from the cot next to Will. He passed it to Will, whose mouth started watering at the sight of chicken fried steak, chilli, biscuits and gravy, and black bean stew. All of Will’s favourite foods. Nico reached behind them again and grabbed another plate, this one with a donut and a slice of pecan pie, and a glass of sweet tea. His resolve to stay angry started to melt away as he saw all the food. “I thought you’d be hungry, so I asked Austin to grab you some food for dinner. It might be a bit cold by now, but it should still be good.”  
  
“Austin grabbed this all for me?” Will said. “I didn’t think he cared that much, to pay attention to my favourite foods.”  
  
Nico blushed. “I— I may have asked him to get this stuff specifically? I knew that you’ve been having a tough time because of me, and I was worried about you, so I may have suggested he get you this stuff…”  
  
“Thanks,” Will said as he started eating. He didn’t know what to say to Nico. He wasn’t ready to not be angry, but he couldn’t exactly stay angry when he knew how thoughtful Nico was being. Why the hell was he helping Will out, and being so sweet and thoughtful? It would’ve been easier for Will if Nico could just be an asshole.  
  
“Is there anything else I can do?” Nico asked quietly after a few minutes of awkward silence. It was weird. Whenever there was a silence with Nico, it was comfortable, even when it shouldn’t have been. But now, it was awkward and weird. Had they fallen that far out of sync in two months?  
  
“You could tell me just how much you like me, since it drove you to ditch me for two months.” Will meant for it to come across as sarcastic and mocking, since he didn’t think he could handle it if Nico started praising him and complimenting him again. Apparently, Nico missed the sarcastic memo, and answered, looking down at his hands as he blushed softly.  
  
“Will, I love you to the moon and back. I would walk through fire, just to see you smile. I love your smile, and I love the little face you make when you’re concentrating. I love your sense of humour, especially when I’m having a bad day. Will, I would do anything for you. And I know I’ve had a really shitty way of showing it, but I really love you.  
  
“I love your stupidly adorable Texan accent, and I love how you are always there for anyone who needs you, and you’re there whenever I need you, even though I’ve been a shitty person towards you. As I said earlier, you make me feel like a person, and not a feral gremlin. I love how much you care about other people, and it kills me that you don’t see yourself the way I do, because you’re beautiful and kind and brave and perfect, but you don’t see any of that, which I don’t get. You’re amazing, and I really wish you could see that.  
  
“I feel safe and comfortable around you, like I can be myself without ever fearing judgement or ridicule. I— I’m a better person when I’m with you, and I realized over the past two months that I don’t ever want to be without you again, because I need you, Will. I need you by my side, because I hated being without you, and I can’t do that again. I know it was my fault, but I can’t do that again. I need you, Solace. I really haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. I can’t stop thinking about your smile, and laugh, and the little twinkle in your eye when you’re happy, and the way you geek out over The Princess Bride. I keep thinking about the amazing hugs you give, cause I feel safe when you hug me, which I know is ridiculous and cliche, but it doesn’t negate the fact.  
  
“You… you complete me, Will. You make me feel… fuller, like there’s more to me, and like I’m good, and I want to be a better person with you, Will. I want to be a good person for you, and because of you. You make me happy, and I really love you, and I don’t think that will ever change, Will.  
  
“I guess when I realized all of that, I kind of freaked out. I wanted to run and hide from everything and everyone, but it killed me. Especially since I felt like I had to run from you, even though you were the only one I wanted to talk to, the only one I wanted to be with. The only person I could think of. I’m so sorry that I’m an idiot with self-destructive tendencies.”  
  
When Nico finished, he looked up and smiled sheepishly at Will. His face was red, and he was fidgeting with his ring. Will didn’t know what to say, so he set his plates on the table between the cots and opened his arms for Nico to hug him. Did Nico really think Will completed him? That was what a soulmate was, right? Did Nico mean that as platonic or romantic? Probably platonic. After all, Nico just thought of him as a friend.  
  
Nico stood up and gave Will a hug. Before pulling away, Nico gave Will’s cheek a kiss, causing Will to look down at the ground in embarrassment. Nico grabbed Will’s hand as he sat back down in his chair. Will ran his other hand through his hair, which reminded him about something he wanted to ask Nico.  
  
“Do you think I’m a rusty nail?”  
  
Nico laughed, probably out of shock at the seemingly out of nowhere question. “Do I think you’re a rusty piece of metal that holds wood together?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“No, I don’t. Out of all the woodworking things, I’d say that you’re… a Stud.”  
  
“Kiss ass,” Will laughed. “Is that a real thing?”  
  
“Yeah, it’s a board that helps with house frames and that kind of thing,” Nico explained with a smile. “The name’s accurate for you, though. And if you want to start calling yourself a rusty nail, it’s not all bad. They kinda have a… vintage, rustic, steampunk look, right? I can get into that.”  
  
“Thanks, Nico,” Will laughed as Nico squeezed his hand. “You’re an Underworld kid, right?”  
  
“Yeah?” Nico laughed. “I’m really confused. Two minutes ago you were yelling at me, and now you’re asking me a bunch of weird questions. Are you alright?”  
  
“Yeah,” Will answered. “I just— I was wondering a couple things. Do you think that I’m a monster? You can’t sense any demons or anything in me, right?”  
  
Nico grabbed Will’s other hand and looked him in the eyes, bringing both of Will’s hands to his chest. “Will, I know you aren’t a demon or a monster. You’re the best person I’ve ever met, and as I said before, I love you. You’re not a monster, or a rusted nail, or anything like that. You just have one soul, one human soul. You don’t need to worry about anything like that, alright?”  
  
“O—okay. Thanks, Nic.” Nico kissed Will’s knuckles as Will answered, almost making Will forget his name. “Are we really okay?”  
  
“As far as I know, yeah,” Nico said with a smile. “I don’t have any issues with you, but if you have anything else you wanna get off your chest…”  
  
Will thought for a few minutes before he told Nico what was bothering him. And yes, he was aware that he had already complained to Nico about all of these things, but they were important, so Will decided to reiterate them. “I don’t like that you keep running off without saying anything. You did that after Bianca died, you were going to do that after the Battle of the Labyrinth, you did it back in February, and again in March. Nico, I love you, and I worry every time you run off. I don’t know if you’re dead, or alive, or what. It hurts like a bitch, Nic. When you run off with no explanation, it hurts the people around you, the people who love and care for you.  
  
“But I’m not happy that you made a vow on the Styx. It was ridiculously stupid, because if I need you but don’t tell you, or something else ridiculous like that, you could end up with a date worse than death! Also, I don’t want you to come talk to me because you have to, I want you to want to talk to me. Not out of obligation to a ridiculous path you made.”  
  
Nico stayed silent for a minute, and Will was worried he would get up and leave, or just not talk for the rest of the day. “Willoughby, I will always want to talk to you. I will always want to be there for you. I will always want to sit with you, and laugh, and talk, and everything. It’s not out of obligation that I’m here. It’s because I care about that for you, tesoro.”  
  
Will nodded. “Okay.”  
  
“Okay,” Nico said with a shy smile. “Did you know Hades bakes when he’s stressed?”  
  
“You’re kidding,” Will laughed. He was imagining Hades in a frilly pink apron listening to 50’s music while he made a cake from scratch.  
  
“No, he seriously does!” Nico replied with a small laugh of his own. “I walked in on him making a Death Star cake, with three other themed cakes on the counter. He’s really into the Great British Baking Show, and has taken it upon himself to learn everything he can about ‘the fine and noble art of caking’. He’s made three cakes of his wife, too, by the way, and I can’t decide if it’s sweet or disturbing since he talks to the cakes before eating them.”  
  
Will laughed so hard he almost fell off the bed. It was nice to have Nico back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long to update this! I know this chapter is a bit repetitive, but I still enjoyed writing it (I really can't write fights, sorry)  
> Obviously these two needed to have a serious talk about a lot of issues that have been going on for a while (mostly Nico constantly leaving with no warning— both him and Bianca do this, actually). This will not be the last time that Will brings up Nico leaving  
> If you skipped the last chapter, the rusty nail thing was one of Will’s thoughts from his panic attack (he felt like he was useless and people threw him away since he was corroded and gross). The monster thing was another thought Will had (that he had a demon inside him or something, and that’s why people left)  
> Also, Nico will be a lot more nervous when he compliments Will, or kisses his cheeks/hugs him/holds his hand in the next few chapters. In this chapter, it was mostly relief at seeing Will, and Will saying he loved Nico as well (he was giddy and excited, and didn’t let himself think about what was happening too hard)  
> This is also from last chapter's notes, but it’s important so I’ll reiterate: Yes, Nico thinks that they are dating now, as they both have confessed they love each other . Yes, they are now dating. No, Will does not realize, even though it will be very obvious to everyone around them.  
> Hades being a dork is my jam, and I also love baking (although I can't decorate cakes for shit)  
> I will be including some things between this chapter and the next chapter (which will be a small thing from the Battle of Manhattan) in Extras (whenever I get around to writing and publishing it, lol), but they won't be in here

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfic that I've ever posted, so I hope you like it! If you have any feedback, please let me know!  
> I've had the idea for this fic for a while, and so here is the first chapter!  
> There should be around 20 chapters, plus a few other works in this series.  
> find me on tumblr @i-am-triple-a


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